I Hate You
by Dextra
Summary: Alec and Annika Volturi have been at each other's throats for as long as either can remember. Constantly fighting. But when Alec starts to think differently of her, what will happen?Also, the Romanian coven plans on taking over the Volturi forever.Alec/OC
1. Failed

I was still a bit upset that I couldn't go to Forks with the rest of the guard. I was never allowed to leave the castle. At all. I don't know why either. I'm just as good as the rest of them. I have a power!

Actually my ability is…strange. Don't ask why Aro let me stay with the Volturi because my power kind of sucks. I have sharp spikes that stick out everywhere on my body. Some even come out of my face. I had to cut my black hair short. It's sort of a pixie cut except it sticks out in odd directions and I can't do anything to fix that. Luckily, they aren't always showing; only when I need them. They're more of a defensive power. It makes me look like a porcupine! Maybe that's why I wasn't allowed to come because the Cullens probably would start laughing. You would too, believe me. I wish I had a power that was dangerous (it was already pretty dangerous) but also didn't make me look stupid.

Oh, wow. I totally forgot to tell you who I am. My name is Annika and I'm a very pissed off vampire at the moment. I've been a vampire for awhile so don't even start on that crap about _oh, I'm a human who suddenly turns into a vampire because I was_ _carelessly wandering through Volterra._ I'm not an idiot. I'm one of the younger ones in the guard though. Only a hundred twenty-four years old.

Right now I'm sitting at the front desk acting as the temporary secretary. We ate Gianna. She didn't taste all that good. Blah, I still remember the taste. Let's just say it was the most disgusting thing. Alec looked like he was going to puke. I made fun of him of it.

Alec and I don't really have a very good relationship. We're always at each others throats, trying to outdo the other. Everyday. Aro made sure that our "bedrooms" were as far away from each other as possible. Wait until Alec sees what I did to his room today. Hope he likes pink.

I heard the elevator doors open with a sharp _ding!_ Ah, they must be home. Took them long enough. Aro walked in with everyone else following. No one looked very happy. Chelsea came over to the desk.

"It's my turn to cover being the secretary. Go take your break. Aro's orders," She said while nodding her head slightly in Aro's direction.

I gave her one last look before I followed the large crowd into the main room or "the throne room" as Caius likes to call it, and took my seat next to Alec (blah). He rolled his eyes when I sat down but said nothing.

"So, I guess you failed," I said, teasing him.

Alec just gave me a hard glare. "Shut up for once. I don't want to deal with you today."

Too bad for you, honey. You're going to have to deal with me once you see your nice remodeled room. Aro was sitting in his chair with his head in his hands. I'm guessing things didn't go well in Forks. Jane was clawing away at her chair. Bits of wood fell to the floor. Oh yeah, it definitely didn't go well. I leaned over behind Alec's back to whisper to her.

"What happened?" I asked.

She didn't even look at me but just uttered one word. "Bella," she said, her teeth grinding together.

Before I could settle back into my seat, Alec leaned back, crushing me against the back of his chair. Oh, you're nice.

"Stop it, you two," Caius called.

Aro looked up and walked over to our direction. Jane cowered a bit and Alec tensed.

"I should have brought you along," Aro whispered more to himself than me. "You could've destroyed them all." He took my face in his hands.

Um, yeah right. What was the puffer fish going to do? Were they all going to die of laughter? I don't think so. In order for my power to have any effect I sort of need to be in contact with someone. It's kind of hard to rip someone's head off when they're waaayyy over there. Just saying. Well, I have spikes in my wrist that can come completely out of the skin that I can just grow back (that's the only ones that grow back) but it's not like I'm going to stand there and just throw spikes at people. Can anyone say boring?

Aro let his hands drop to his sides and drifted back over to his seat. "You're all dismissed!" his voice rang out.

Jane was the first one out the door, pushing everyone aside. She didn't want to spend another minute in that room. I couldn't blame her. The whole atmosphere was tense and quiet. Alec followed closely behind her leaving me one of the last few in the room.

I was sitting on my unused bed when I heard loud shouting. Ha! Alec must have seen his room. It serves him right for trying to break my head with his chair.

_ Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Hm, that must be Alec knocking on my door to pay me a visit and make small chat. He wasn't knocking hard enough to break the door but he made it shake a little.

"Come in!" I said in a mock sing-song voice.

Alec didn't hesitate to swing open the door. The yelling didn't start right away. For a few moments he just stood in the doorway and glared at me before giving a big sigh. He sat down on the bed next to me.

"Do you enjoy making my existence miserable?" He asked. Wow, he's actually calm!

"Yes. It's a great hobby of mine." I smiled at him.

**A/N: Whew! Done with the first chapter! I hoped you enjoyed it even though it was kind of short. I'm going to make the next chapter longer so don't worry. Thoughts? Suggestions? Review please and tell me how I'm doing. **


	2. Average Day

*One Week Later*

**~Jane~**

I was furious. So furious that I punched my wall so much there were gaping holes in it! How the hell could have Bella beaten me? What did I do wrong? Alec got over this quicker than me but I've never been beaten before! I want to kill her. I want to kill her so bad, and yet I can't. Never before have I ever felt so vulnerable. Stupid master didn't do anything! We still had a chance! Who cares if Alec and I were worthless? Felix could rip their guts out! Stupid, stupid masters. It couldn't harm them to have at least a few people in the guards that have powers that don't involve the mind! Well, there's Annika. But did we bring her? Oh no, Caius wouldn't let Aro bring her. Why? She messes up everything! She gets distracted so easily. I swear, one minute she's in attack mode and the next she's off chasing butterflies. Even still, she has a power that could destroy Bella. They wouldn't be able to touch her without having a very sharp object drilled into their hands!

My train of thought was interrupted by Annika's laughter. And knowing her, she probably did something that would make Alec, or anyone else for that matter (she likes to pick on Caius), angry.

"I got his frigging pants!" She shouted as she ran down the hallway.

"Annika, if you don't give those back I will punish you!" And that was Caius. Surprise, surprise.

Caius wasn't really going to punish her. Felix convinced him that Anna is his long lost great-great-great-great (I have no idea how many "greats" he said but there were a lot) granddaughter. Everyone but Caius knows that isn't true but no one plans to tell him otherwise. Meh, he'll figure it out eventually. I mean, there's no resemblance at all.

Sighing, I got up out of my chair and walked into the hallway. I couldn't see them but I definitely could hear them. Aro only keeps her because he thinks she's funny and brings happiness to the guard. The only time she's funny is when she isn't trying to stuff fish down your pants. Poor Demetri smelled for weeks. I started to follow the sound of their voices only to find, guess who, Aro watched Caius and Anna wrestle with enjoyment clearly written on his face.

"Jane! Come watch with me! This is better than television!" Aro looked up. Oh, no thanks.

"That's alright. I'll find something else to do, thanks," I said in a fake sweet voice.

That was the first time I saw Aro in days. Mostly he's been shut away in his chambers in shame but I guess he's back to his old self. This day just keeps getting better, doesn't it? First Caius is pantless, now Aro enjoys wrestling matches between members of the family, what wonders will happen next? Alec will suddenly be able to fly? Right on cue, Alec soared over my head. Oh, I hate my life sometimes. Do you think it's possible to torture myself?

"What are you staring at, Jane? I was pushed!" My brother stood up.

"By who?"

"Who do you think?" He said, rolling his eyes.

"Annika is right there in front of us." I pointed to the wrestling match that didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not her. Felix. Who else would be able to throw me that far?"

I snorted a bit. "Alec, a human could probably pick you up. What did you do anyway?"

"Nothing! He thinks I was the one that cut the fabric off the seat of his pants. Now everyone can see his boxers!"

"Will you two shut up? I'm trying to watch this fight. It just started to get good," Aro said.

Caius finally managed to shake off Annika and retrieve his pants. I bet you anything that it was Anna that cut the hole in Felix's pants. I think she's in a pants mood today. Everyday she has a different theme. Like, yesterday was flamingos. And the day before that was cheese. Who knows what tomorrow will be? Fire? Let's just pray she doesn't touch any matches. I would like to still have a roof over my head.

Annika got up and patted Caius on the back. "That was fun. We should do that again sometime." She then skipped off.

Alec was glaring after her. One of these days, I wouldn't be surprise if he tried to kill her. Don't ask why they hate each other, no one knows. They probably don't even know.

"Well, this is awkward. Who's up for some Bingo?" Aro clapped his hands together. No one volunteered. "Scrabble?"

"Don't even try, Aro, don't even try," Caius said and stalked off.

As you can see, it was a pretty average day in Volterra.

* * *

Honestly, I had nothing to do. I was sitting in the throne room listening to Aro talk to himself about some plan to take over the world. But he always talked about that so that wasn't worth listening to. You could hear Alec yelling at Annika from somewhere upstairs but that also wasn't new. Felix was break dancing and no, that wasn't new either. He always break dances! It looks weird when someone is break dancing but there's no music playing. And not to mention he's still in his Volturi robes.

"That's it!" Aro cried. "I know how to take over the world!"

That would be interesting; except that's the seventh time he has said that today. He comes up with the strangest plans. His original plan for killing the Cullens was to throw pineapples at them. Yeah, because that so was going to work.

"Jane, my dear! You have to listen to this great thought I just had!" Aro got up from his seat.

I just nodded to show that I heard him. I was too bored to talk.

"What if we made an army of newborn vampires?!" He said excitedly.

"There's one problem. Someone already thought of that and it sort of failed."

"Damn. What about newborn immortal children?" He asked.

"That would be breaking your own rules and we would have to rip your head off and burn your body." Today wasn't Aro's creative day.

He thought for a moment. "Hmmm, this is a tough one. An army of hybrids, maybe?"

"Hybrids are wimps!" Now he was just getting pathetic.

"What about werewolves? Not those shape shifters back in Washington, but actual children of the moon. Is that original enough?"

It was original but children of the moon didn't really like us. They didn't like us at. Plus, there were barely any of them left. Caius went a little crazy, let's just say.

"And how would you get them to follow you? They hate us."

Aro just smiled. I hated it when he did that. It means he's thinking and when Aro thinks, things get a bit weird.

"We could bribe them. Promise to breed them back to the population they once had if they kill every vampire if said vampires refuse to follow us."

He got me there. "Aro, I like that plan. You should go work on it some more."

His smile broadens. "Yes, I shall. This time I won't fail." He ran off to his bedroom chambers.

Yes! Peace and quiet and the entertainment Felix brings me. Of course he didn't hear what Aro said. He's Felix after all. Paying attention is not his thing.

_Thud!_

Oh, that didn't sound good.

* * *

**A/N: It was a bit longer than the first. I have a tendency to write long chapters. It bothers me when my writing looks short. **

**Something I wanted to address because someone brought it up, I'm sorry that my OC eats humans and that she seems like she doesn't feel sorry for them. I'm not going to have her become a vegetarian but I'm not going to have any "graphics" when it's feeding time. It'll be very general when it comes to feeding time. Actually, after I saw New Moon, the fact the Volturi eats humans creeped me out a bit because they showed the humans alive and then their screaming and it just sounded nasty and gross. Again, I'm sorry if it bothered you. I don't want to spoil the story but I'm just going to say that Annika does feel sorry for humans but I won't say anymore because that comes up later. Sorry for the long author's note too. I'm not a big fan of them.**

**Thoughts? Suggestions? Totally hate me now because my OC eats people? Review please and tell me how I'm doing with my writing. Thanks for reading. **


	3. Are We Going to Die?

**~Alec~**

This wasn't one of my best weeks. With my power failing against the Cullens and Annika going crazy from withdrawal of other vampires, I think you can say it's been stressful.

She usually isn't this deranged. Or wild. Anna was actually a pretty calm person when she isn't trying to destroy your ego. Tomorrow is Sunday. The best day of the week. Why? That's Annika's "no pranks" day. Marcus made her pick a day when she gets out of everyone's hair. I think Sunday is everyone's favorite day because of that.

My room reeked with Anna's scent. I guess she thought I felt left out and decided to steal my pants too. Oh, I got them back but let's just say I now have fifteen pairs of short-shorts. Lovely. This means I need to go shopping for some new pants and I hate shopping.

The positive side is I got her to calm down. She's reading a book on _my_ bed in _my _room. I just can't win.

"Hey, do you think you can read somewhere else, maybe? Like, oh, I don't know, your own room?" I asked.

She looked at me over the top of her book, snorted, then continued to read. Okay, then.

"Do you want to play a game?" That got her attention.

Her eyes lit up and she tossed the book into a corner. If you haven't noticed, she was a very playful person and loved any kind of games.

"What kind of game?"

"A question game, I ask a question and you answer it and visa versa." She smiled a bit more and sat up straight.

"You go first."

"Okay, why are you such a nescience? Oh, wait…I can answer that all by myself. Because you're a stupid moron." Her face fell.

"Alec, you suck." She got up and grabbed her book and went back to reading it on my bed.

There was a long silence. The only sound was the flipping of pages.

"Why does your face look like a donkey's ass?" She retorted without looking up.

I didn't expect her to fight back. She usually ends a fight by slamming your head into something hard.

"Why is your ass so huge, then?" I asked.

"Why are you looking at my butt?" She still didn't look up.

"Why do you care?" Just giving you the heads up, this could go on for a _long_ time. I think our record is four days. Maybe five.

"You're such a jerk!" she almost screamed.

Annika was getting angry now. Her book was discarded and now she was standing up.

"And you're such a bitch but you don't see me screaming."

She just smirked. "Woof, woof."

I didn't make a remark after that. It's best to let her blow off the steam and I really don't want to sit here and insult her for days. I have a life, you know.

I glanced back at her. She had her fists clenched and was glaring at me. Waiting for me to say something. She looked a little scary. Murderous. I knew Annika wasn't going to go ahead and kill me but I know she wouldn't hesitate to beat the crap out of me. She just needed one more snarky comment and then she punches my face in.

Neither of us moved for awhile. You know what? I'm just going to get this over with so I can go back to my life.

"I think Aro lied about vampirism making you look gorgeous. It made you look like crap." She drew her fist back.

_Thud!_

My skull cracked against the stone wall, breaking the bricks off. There was rubble all over me but at least Annika was satisfied. She picked up her book, gave me one last death glare, and left. Seriously? That's all I had to do to get rid of her?

"What was that?!" I heard Jane yell from somewhere downstairs.

Oh, nothing much. Just getting beat up is all.

I could smell fresh humans coming through the doors too. Finally! My eyes had turned black yesterday! I got up and shook the rubble out of my hair and made off for the feeding room.

Annika was the first one there, waiting by the door. Her black eyes looked more pronounced than mine. She didn't look at me but said hello to Fellix, who just rounded the corner. Heidi came down the hallway with the humans trailing behind her. They were chatting amongst themselves excitedly.

"You wait in here. I have to go check something before we start the tour," She called sweetly to them and shut the door behind them.

"Tough day of fishing?" Felix asked trying to make small talk.

"Yeah. There weren't many tourists out today or yesterday. And Aro extracted three of them from my group because he thought they were "fascinating". Food isn't interesting to talk to," Heidi ranted.

"Just tasty," Felix agreed.

The masters and the rest soon came down the hallway. Aro was the first to open the door and then there was shrill screaming.

* * *

The entire guard was sitting in their chairs in the throne room. We made a circle around the room. And in the middle were the three humans Aro kept out. One girl and two boys. You could tell they were scared. Probably heard the screaming. Aro was standing right in front of them. Observing them.

"Demetri, show our new quests where they'll be staying." Aro turned away from the humans.

When Demetri left with the mortals, loud uproars started. Some were calling Aro mad for keeping them out of the feeding room. Jane had her face in her hands and Annika was twirling a strand of short hair around her finger. We were the only three not yelling.

"Silence!" Caius shouted over everyone.

The room fell quiet once more. All eyes were on Aro, waiting for an explanation.

"Thank you. I know you are all wondering why you are here. It's about the future attack that will be made upon us," Aro's voice rang out.

There was gasping and more muttering. We haven't been attacked on our own territory in over two thousand years and that was the Romanian coven that got over cocky.

"If you were here when it happened you remember the Romanian coven. We were able to drop their numbers down to only two vampires. They were assisting the Cullens last week when we came. I just received word that they're gathering an army to take over the Volturi." There was more murmuring.

Aro was being completely serious. No jokes or pineapples this time.

"I understand if you feel anxious now. Fear not, I have a plan to fight back and take over the vampire world forever. We are going to breed the children of the moon back to their original population and start an army of our own. Those three humans I saved I saw would possess an ability when transformed. Make them feel welcomed."

Aro then left the room off to his own bedroom. No one spoke this time.

"You all can leave," Marcus said in his grim voice.

One by one, the guard filed out and descended down the hallways. Annika gave me a sad look. She's never been in battle before. I didn't even know what her power was. Aro was the only one that knows and she refuses to show anybody else.

For the rest of the day Annika didn't pull anymore pranks of torture. Jane kept herself locked up in her room. Felix wasn't break dancing anymore and Demetri wasn't making fun of him. Everyone else was acting pretty much the same way; including me. I heard Carlisle was visiting tomorrow. He and Aro were still friends and that means that their monthly visits would start up again.

"Alec," there was a soft voice in my doorway.

I turned around to see Annika, a worry look drawn across her face. For once in a long time she wasn't trying to murder me.

"Hmm?"

She shuffled into the room and sat next to me on my bed and laid her head on my shoulder.

"Did you need something?" I tried again.

"No," she sighed and she stayed in that position.

Her eyes were closed and she was breathing in and out slowly. It looked like she was asleep but I obviously knew that she wasn't. It made her look peaceful and, I hate to say it, beautiful. She really wasn't all that bad when she wasn't trying to rip your head off and feed you to the sharks.

I buried my face a little into her hair and we stayed like that for a long time.

**A/N: It gets a little longer every update. I have a question and I sort of need to know. Do you want the romance soon or later in the story? Like, (1) do you want small romance, battle, and then small romance at the end? Or (2) do you want no romance and just fluff, battle, then big romance at the end? I don't mind which one you pick. I'm fine with writing either I just want to know which one you would rather have. So, option one or two? **

** Thoughts? Suggestions? Review please and tell me what you think. And thanks if you already reviewed. :) **


	4. Charzy The Pet Human

**~Alec~**

Annika and I were waiting for one of the boys we left alive to wake up. Anna has taken the liberty to_ sit_ on the human to wake him up. He looked dazed when he looked up at her. Don't blame him. He's probably not used to having an attractive woman sit on his chest and shake him awake. She got off him and stood by his bed. The boy rubbed the sleep from his eyes and kept eyeing her. I found it…annoying.

"Yay! You're awake! Guess what?" Annika started to bounce a bit on the balls of her feet excitedly.

"Um, what?" He sat up fully now.

"You're going to be my new pet human!" She smiled down at him.

She spent hours begging Aro to let her keep one of the humans as a pet. He finally gave in and told her she could have this one as a pet. I don't think the human is all that happy about it. On the bright side, it's Sunday. That means no pranks from Annika so that is something to be happy about.

"So, what's your name? Mines Annika."

"Richard." He wasn't paying much attention to what she was saying anymore but her body, on the other hand, had his complete undivided attention.

"Really? That's a boring name! Where's the pizzazz? I'll call you…Charzy!"

Charzy? Oh, she really does have an overactive imagination. The boy was able to take his gaze off her breasts and look at her in confusion. She leaned over and snapped a dog collar and leash around his neck and yanked on it.

"Come on, Charzy! Let's go feed you some bacon." She dragged him off the bed and out the door.

No one really remembers what humans ate so we plan to feed them bacon because that was the only thing Felix suggested. If they get fat, oh well. When we change them into vampires they should be skinny again so it doesn't really matter what we feed them. Caius suggested dirt and the majority of people agreed.

The other boy and the girl we took seemed to have also been awaken by Annika's nonsense. They looked younger than Annika's victim she chose as her pet. None of them were related either from what Aro told us. The girl had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and the boy had dark hair and eyes. "Charzy" was a ginger kid, in case you were wondering. Both of the humans looked terribly confused.

"What are you going to do to us?" The girl spoke first.

"Oh, just keep you here awhile so you get used to the castle and then turn you into vampires. Enjoy!" I said in a mock happy mood.

Again, both look confused and a little shocked.

"Does it hurt?" The boy asked.

"Nah. It's just a soothing burning feeling while you scream in pain for three days!"

The boy had a worry look on his face and the girl showed nothing. Hmm, either that didn't scare her a bit or she was really good at hiding emotions.

"I'm not going to let you. I heard what you did to all those poor people and I do not want to end up doing that too," she said. She looked a little angry.

I just shrugged. Didn't like it, then go be a vegetarian vampire or something. It wasn't that big of a deal or hard of a choice to make. I started to walk out of the room in search of Annika to see if that boy was still alive but the other two humans got out of their beds and started to follow me.

"You're leaving us?" The boy asked.

I stared back at them. I was actually surprised they followed me. It's not everyday you see humans willingly following a vampire.

"Yeah," I said.

I turned around again before they could say anything else. I was not going to waste my time fulfilling a human's needs. I could hear their footsteps following me down the hallway though. Ah, well. They can get yelled at for leaving their rooms if they want. Or get eaten. Which ever comes first. Humans were strange creatures. I can't believe I was one at one time.

I glanced behind me to see if they were still there but they weren't. Damn it, where could they have gone? If something happens to them Aro will kill me. I could still smell them so that's a good sign. I followed the scent back down the hallway. I looked into every room too. Nothing. This is why it's always Demetri's job to watch over people in case they get lost! You know what, they'll turn up eventually.

I went back the other way. Today was a slow day. No jobs needed to be done, no one was breaking the laws, and the castle was still in one piece. I don't think anyone is complaining but Jane was starting to get edgy. She tortured three cats and seven deer today and it wasn't even noon yet. Hopefully Bella wouldn't be accompanying Carlisle today or she might be going home with a few missing limbs.

I seriously need to get a hobby. I could go shopping for new pants because I've been borrowing Demetri's. He has pretty short legs so they fit fine. I certainly wasn't going to try and make Felix's work. Demetri, however, doesn't know I have his pants so I guess I probably should go out shopping. I have to do it myself because you don't want to see what happened when I let Heidi shop for me. Never before have I seen so many sequins on a pair of pants.

You know, I think I will go shopping. By the looks of how much the humans have been eating (well, at least Charzy) we're going to need more bacon. I'll need to tell one of the masters first though. They freak out when they can't find someone.

I walked down the stairs into the main hallway where most of the guard was wandering.

"Charzy! Don't rape her!" That's not something I really wanted to hear come out of Annika's mouth.

You probably noticed by now, as have the rest of the guard, Charzy was a very hormonal person. Heidi just happened to be walking past him and you know humans. They have no self-control. Anna yanked on his leash rather hard to pull him away from Heidi, who also just slapped him across the face. Jeez, they're treating him roughly. Heidi could have slapped his head right off his shoulders if she wanted to and Annika will most

likely choke him to death with that leash if she keeps on tugging it like that.

I went past them, not wanting to see how the rest of this scene will play out.

"What is going on out here?" Caius slammed the doors to the main room open.

"This meat sack tried to get under my skirt!" Heidi pointed at Charzy.

Caius looked at the boy for a second and then slapped him. He is going to have a pretty beat up face by the end of the day.

"Wait, Caius. I need to go somewhere for some errands," I called after him as he went back into the room.

"What errands?" He stopped in his tracks.

"He's probably going to buy some new sparkly dresses and heels!" Annika said, she was also sitting on Charzy now so he wouldn't run away.

Caius gave her look telling her to shut up.

"I need to buy new pants and more bacon for the humans." Caius waved me away and joined his brothers.

Alright then. I got into the elevator and pushed the "up" button. Aro really needs to get rid of this elevator music. It was annoying. It gave a _ding!_ And the doors opened to the doors to the outside. It was sunny outside so I had to pull the hood of my cloak over my head.

It wasn't crowded outside so I had no problem making my way to a men's clothing store. The cashier was a woman. Of course, more hormonal humans.

"Hi! Did you need any help with anything?" She called from her desk a bit too perky.

"Nope, I'm fine. Thanks though." I pulled my hood off.

Artificial lights won't give me away.

I made my way over to the pants. Wow, shopping is so boring. It's hard to find my size because I'm very lanky. Miss Perky appeared over my shoulder faster than I thought it was possible for a human.

"Do you need a changing room?" She asked reaching for the clothing.

"Um, sure," I said and gave her the clothes.

She practically ran to the changing rooms and opened one up for me. I can't wait to get out here.

I won't describe my time in the changing room but I was done pretty quickly. Only a few things didn't fit and that was because the waist was too big. Guess who was waiting for me right outside the door?

"Did everything fit okay? Do you need more choices? Here, let me help you!"

I think someone had a bit too much coffee this morning. Or beer. I don't know what a popular drink among humans is. I gave her the things I wanted and she led me to the check out. I think this is the shortest time I've ever spent on buying clothes.

"Come back soon!" She fluttered her eye lashes.

"Thanks," I said.

I looked at my receipt to see if I paid the right amount and saw she wrote her phone number on it. Yeah, like I would call her.

Shopping for the bacon took even less time than the pants because the butcher didn't flirt with me. He was an old, hairy man so I didn't expect him to. If he did then that would be the creepiest thing I will ever see.

* * *

I sat watching Carlisle and Aro play chess. Carlisle arrived while I was gone. They had a pretty even match. Aro was discussing the Romanian coven and Carlisle listened intently. I think we can all say that everyone was nervous about it.

"I wanted to know if you were willing to have your coven fight with us. Not join us, of course," Aro said and he moved his knight forward to take Carlisle's bishop.

"It depends. Did you do anything to make them angry?" Carlisle looked up from the board.

"No, I just think they don't like us. I haven't seen them in years until last week."

Carlisle killed Aro's rook.

"We might consider it. Bella would be harder to persuade. She isn't very fond of you," He muttered.

Aro nodded. Hmm, I can't imagine why? Could it be her stupid friend lied to us so we tried to kill her child? Yes, I think so.

"Oh, look at the time. I told my wife I would home an hour ago," Carlisle said and stood up.

"It's been nice having you," Aro smiled at him and knocked over Carlisle's king with his queen. "It seems the game is over anyway."

Aro shook his hand and Carlisle left. Aro sighed and looked at me.

"I found the other two humans hiding in a broom closet upstairs," Aro said.

There, told you they would show up.

"I was wondering where they went," I said.

"They said you were creepy," he smirked.

"That wouldn't be the first time I heard that," I smiled back.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for your ideas if you reviewed. I think I made a decision on what I want to happen now. **

** I forgot to ask last chapter, but did you guys have a good Christmas? Mine was pretty quiet. **

** Thoughts? Suggestions? You can still tell me what you want to happen with the romance if you haven't already. Review please! :) **


	5. Stop It!

**~Annika~**

They were sitting behind bars. Mostly for our protection and to keep them all in one spot. Right now, they were in human form. I've only seen them as wolves once and it was one of the most hideous things I have ever seen. They looked under fed when they were wolves. You could make out every bone and detail of every muscle. The werewolves also walked on their hind legs instead of all fours. I didn't really like them at all. They were too mean. In this "cage" was the whole werewolf population. There are barely a hundred of them!

Aro planned to unleash all of them on in a nearby town the next full moon. When they bite a person that person gets transformed into a werewolf so this was how Aro planned on breeding them. Werewolves can't have children. Well, they can, but the baby would turn out wrong. Probably wouldn't even last the first few minutes of life.

I sat near the door, watching them. They acted like regular humans when they weren't wolves. If you didn't know, you could have easily mistaken them for just dirty humans. Sometimes they snapped at me with their teeth. I guess some didn't realize they weren't wolves.

The reason why I'm here and not with the others is because today Aro decided to change Charzy and the other two humans into vampires and I didn't like to watch or hear it. It hasn't even been even two days but he said they had enough time to get used to the castle and everybody in it. I haven't even met the other two and Charzy was being a butt and wouldn't listen to me. I don't want him as a pet anymore but I'm still going to call him that. I'll probably end up naming the other two after they're changed, but I have to wait three days.

It reminded me of when I was changed. I was sixteen years old. It's actually one of the only memories I have that happened a long time ago. I can't remember things that happened awhile ago very well. This is understandable considering all the weird mental disabilities I had when I was human.

I felt lonely today and I wasn't in the mood to mess with people. I wasn't in the mood to even talk to people. I got up. I was getting bored with watching the werewolves fight with each other. Maybe Aro will keep me company.

He was sitting in his "throne" with his head resting in his hand. Caius and Marcus weren't in the room with him.

"Hello, Annika. Did you need something?" He looked up at me.

"No. I'm lonely," I said and sat in Caius' chair next to him. "I can't find anyone to talk to."

Aro straightened and sighed.

"Well, what do want to talk about?"

"Nothing. I don't have anything to say today," I said.

"It's hard to talk to someone when you don't have anything to say," he smiled.

I smiled back but didn't say anything. Instead I rested my head in my hand and stared at the door. Aro patted my head and stood up.

"I have to go right now. Sorry." And he left through the large doors.

Great. Alone again. I couldn't think of anyone else to talk to! There's a lot of people gone today. Jane's here but all she does is complain about how something is not perfect enough or we should be doing this instead. Not what I want to sit through. There's Alec…but I don't practically enjoy talking to him. Eh, what the hell? It'll give me something to do.

Alec was currently sitting in his room. He raised his eyebrow when he saw me in the doorway. I sat down in his "spinney" chair and started to spin it around.

"Um, is spinning in my chair all you came in here for?" He sounded amused.

"Maybe," I said curtly. I heard him snort a little. "I was also lonely and I can't find anyone to talk to."

"So you thought I was going to be your means of entertainment today?"

"Mmmhmm," I murmured.

I stopped spinning and stared at him. He was giving me a weird look. He tends to do that to me a lot. I jumped out of the chair and sat by his feet and looked up at him. I leaned my head back to rest in his lap. I was a very snuggly person. I even tried to cuddle with Caius. I don't think he liked that very much but oh well.

Alec absentmindedly started to play with my hair. He pushed it off my forehead but it just flopped back into place. I moved his hand away. I didn't like it when people played with my hair.

"You look funny upside down," I said.

He just nodded and didn't even look at me.

"It kind of makes you look fat." He still didn't look at me.

What fun is it when he doesn't even argue back? Now I'm even more bored. And…he's stroking my hair again. I lifted my head completely off his lap and gave him a hard look. Alec let his hand drop to his side and smirked at me. What's so funny? He reached over and touched my head again. Stop touching me! This time I moved my whole body away from him.

"Your hair is pretty," he said.

"Um, thanks? I don't do anything to it." I think Alec has gone crazy.

"I know. It's still pretty though," he said.

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes.

I laid down on his bed and watched him. Alec was still staring at me. Maybe visiting him was a bad idea. He stood up, crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side.

"Are you just going to lay there for the rest of the day?" he asked playfully.

I nodded and curled my legs more towards me. Jeez, did he eat something he wasn't supposed to? My guess is yes. Alec probably ate a drunk human or an animal. Aro said if you drink an animal's blood it makes you go loopy. Maybe Alec ate a squirrel. I would eat a squirrel. I don't trust those beady eyes.

He sat next to the bed with his arms crossed on top of it and his head sitting in the middle. What, are we just going to switch to different positions around the room while saying nothing? Alec reached over and tried to touch my hair again but I slapped him away. Yes, he defiantly ate a squirrel. He moved his hand back under his chin and continued to stare at me.

"Stop," I said.

"Stop what?" He asked and was smiling again.

I sighed. "Stop touching me, stop staring at me, and give me some space, will you?"

He didn't move or stop staring at me. Damn. Alec was getting on my last nerve. Oh, and instead of running his fingers through my hair he decided to place his hand on the side of my face. One of these days I'm going to have to teach Alec about a little thing called personal space. How about we start now? He doesn't seem to understand it very well.

I sat up, holding both his hands in mine so he'll stop touching my face. I genteelly pushed his hands towards him.

"Alec, stop touching. This is my space." I shook his hands in front of his face to prove a point.

"Okay, you could have just asked," he said and lowered his hands back down onto the bed.

I was going to murder him. He was annoying me to no end.

"I did," I gritted my teeth.

His head plopped down onto the bed too and he looked up at me through his eye lashes. Why won't he stop? I felt like punching his face in. Good thing he got the hole in his wall fixed from last time because I'm about to make a new one. I now regret putting my head in his lap in the first place. No, I regret even coming in here. I would rather watch Felix crump (he's really bad at dancing) then have Alec touch me. I might even consider going vegetarian if he doesn't stop touching me! Wait, that last one is a bad idea, never mind. I don't want to live off squirrels forever.

"Did you see the werewolves yet?" he asked.

"Yeah. I don't like them," I responded.

"They don't like you either."

I rolled my eyes for the umpteenth time today and leaned back against the wall.

"Really? I would have never guessed. I just thought they wanted to play when they tried to bite my hand off," I said sarcastically.

"Why did you stick your hand between the bars?" he said, suggesting I was stupid.

"I didn't. I was being sarcastic, dumbass." I slapped his forehead lightly.

"You act like a five year old sometimes," he said.

Everyone told me that. _You act too immature. Act your own age for once._ Blah, blah, blah. So I should act a hundred and twenty-four? Well, I'm not sure how to do that since I've never seen a human live that long and Aro acts like a little kid at times and he's over three thousand years old.

Alec stood up. Was he going to leave me alone and let me play with his stuff? No, he grabbed my hand and pulled me off the bed into a standing position next to him. He led me to the door.

"I can tell I'm boring you so you should go find something else to do," he said.

Alec leaned over and kissed my forehead and closed the door. What the hell? Yup, he's drunk alright. I never knew vampires could get drunk until now. Guess you learn something new everyday, huh?

* * *

**A/N: I've been writing this all day. I had a short writer's block but I overcame it quickly. You can tell which choice I picked now. Hoped you enjoyed it. I think this one is my favorite chapter right now. **

**Thoughts on this chapter or anything about this story in general? Can vampires get drunk? Review please! And thank you very much if you already reviewed. I like to see other's opinions. :) **

**And I wanted to add, those werewolves are different from the wolves in La Push. These are the werewolves the books said Caius tried to get rid of. Just wanted to clear that up so no one is confused. **


	6. Vampire

**A/N: This is in the point of view of the human girl the Volturi took in. Just saying so no one will be confused.**

**~Jemma~**

The burning was slowly dying down now. Too slowly. I barely remember anything that happen in the time I was lying on this bed. Just pain. There was blood all over the floor. I was still coughing up bits of skin and blood like the other two boys. I can't believe they just left us in here! From time to time I saw someone glancing in from the doorway, probably checking to see if everything is alright, which it wasn't in my opinion.

I gasped in shock when I felt my heart speed up again. It was beating so fast that it sort of hurt. The other two were lying still, looking almost lifeless. Were they torturing us to death? Suddenly, I felt the beating stop. Yet, I was still alive. I was still breathing. I didn't feel exhausted anymore. Daniel, I think is what he said his name was, sat up and stared back at me. I felt my jaw drop a little. His eyes were red. Like the boy that visited us I don't know how many days ago.

The door burst open and in came the strange man that bit us in the first place. He stood motionless for a moment but then smiled.

"Ah, you're done transforming. That's good, that's good," he said.

He sat on the edge of my bed. He wasn't alone either. There were other two men with him and the tiniest girl I have ever seen in my entire life. She didn't look young, in fact, she looked around my age, but she was just so short. She couldn't be an inch over five feet. The man beckoned to the girl.

"See, Annika, they're fine. No need to worry anymore," he said and he put his arm around her shoulder.

She smiled and bounced on the balls of her feet slightly. Jeez, someone has a lot of happy energy they need to get rid of. The other two men didn't seem as welcoming. Especially the blond one.

Richard and Daniel were now standing up and they moved towards my bed. I didn't like the people in front of me. They all had red eyes and looked very intimidating.

"How do you feel?" the man sitting on my bed asked.

How did I feel? I felt poorly. My throat was burning still and it didn't feel like it was going to stop anytime soon.

"Thristy," Richard spoke up.

I guess that was one way to describe it. Mr. Creepy over there just widened his smile. He bent over and took out a mirror and handed it to me.

I almost dropped it when I looked at my reflection. I had red eyes too! I was much more prettier than before, and very pale. I looked back at Daniel and Richard and saw they too changed a lot besides the eyes. Both of them were very handsome now. Richard grabbed the mirror out of my hands and looked at himself, basically having the same reaction I did.

"What happened?" Daniel said, his voice sounded hoarse.

Blondie was the one to speak. "You're vampires now."

I couldn't believe my ears. I thought that boy from before was kidding. I didn't think he was serious when he said we would be changed into vampires. Then realization took over me. I would have to eat humans like the rest of them. That idea sounded repulsive. Without even knowing it, I could be eating one of my friends or a member of my family. I guess I didn't have my family and friends anymore.

"You will be part of our family now. I'm Aro and these are my brothers, Caius and Marcus," the man on the end of my bed said. He pushed the girl forward. "And this is Annika. She has never witnessed a transformation so she was very worried when she heard your screams."

Annika waved at us happily. Wait, how come she didn't remember her own transformation? She looks like a vampire. I thought she was a bit overly friendly.

"I brought you blood! I hunted for it myself!!" Annika had three [large] paper cups of red liquid and she passed them towards us.

I looked down at the blood. It smelled delicious, which was weird because I never thought of blood as something that could taste good. I didn't plan on drinking this. It felt wrong. Daniel and Richard already downed theirs and now all eyes were on me. I sipped it. The burning dimmed a little but it was still very much there.

"I'll let you settle down before I explain the rules to you three," Aro said and got up with his brothers and left.

Annika was still here, though. She seemed very intent on helping us with everything. She was staring at Richard now, with her head cocked to the side.

"Charzy, you look kind of funny as a vampire," she giggled.

Daniel and I snorted. She named him Charzy? Richard or "Charzy", looked like he wanted to bang his head against something out humiliation. She turned her head at the sound of our stifled laughter.

"What's so funny? I'm going to give you names too," she said. "What's your name?" Annika pointed to Daniel.

"Um, Daniel," he said, he wasn't laughing anymore either.

She sat there for a moment and didn't say anything. Daniel was bracing himself for the ridiculous name she was about to give him. Annika shrugged.

"I don't know what to call you." Daniel let out a sigh. She turned towards me.

"My name is Jemma," I said before she could speak.

Annika wasted no time with giving me my name.

"I'll call you Mookie then," she decided.

Daniel snorted again. That wasn't fair that he didn't get a stupid name like Richard and me! She probably favored him more for some reason.

Annika wasn't looking at us anymore. She was staring off into space. It seemed like she didn't have a high attention span for things. I guess we were boring to her.

"Do we have to drink human's blood?" I asked to start a conversation.

She didn't answer, just nodded. Her happy mood seemed to have died down.

"Do you have to _kill_ the human to get the blood or can you just drink enough where as they don't die from it?"

She looked up at me.

"I wish. I would be surprised if you managed to do that considering you are a newborn," she said in a monotone.

I'm guessing that I will want blood every single second of the day, is what I understand from that comment.

"Can't we just eat animals? They have blood." Richard joined in.

Annika made a disgusted face and cringed. I'm taking that as an "animal blood tastes like crap" response.

"Eating humans sounds wrong though," I said.

She moved her stare to me before she spoke again. The atmosphere was starting to get tense.

"Why does it sound wrong?" Her answer actually kind of surprised me. She didn't think eating people was wrong?

"Because we could be eating one of our friends or a member of our family," Richard said. Notice how Daniel obviously doesn't care.

She shrugged. "It's in our nature. If you really think about, it isn't wrong at all. Are you going to tell sharks to stop eating fish because it's wrong? Our oceans would be overcrowded. Are you going to tell a wolf to stop eating deer? Well, there's going to be a hell of a lot of deer running around then. We're the human's only predator. If we stop eating humans then the earth would be even more overpopulated than it already is."

She had a point. That did make sense but I still think we shouldn't be eating humans if eating animals is another option.

* * *

We were moved out of that bloody and disgusting room and we each got a room of our own. Mine was very plain. A desk, a few chairs, a wardrobe, and a bed. Having a bed was weird because Annika said we didn't need to sleep. That made me sad a little. I loved to sleep. It was a time where you could just forget the world for a few hours.

I plopped down onto the bed. It was very, very soft at least. I just met the rest of my "family." They were nice but I missed my real family. Apparently the boy who tried to freak me and the other two out name was Alec. He was really cute. I liked him. His sister on the other hand, is out of the question. Did she hate everyone but herself and her brother? Annika didn't seem to like Alec though. I can't understand why, he was really sweet. He would occasionally nuzzle her a little but then she would push his head away, rather roughly, I might add.

I think he kind of liked her. Or he could have been doing it to annoy her, which looked like that's what it was doing. Annika got annoyed pretty easily for someone who seems so happy all the time. I hope he was just doing that just to annoy her.

* * *

**A/N: Starting January 4****th****, I will only be able to update on weekends. I start school again next week and I'm on the school's girl's basketball team and I have practice every weekday after school. Then I have to be able to get my homework done after practice. I am going to update maybe one more time before January 4****th**** though. **

**Thank you very much for reading. :D I will try to update as fast as I can for you guys.**


	7. Emo Time

**~Alec~**

Well, this week was no better than the last. Why? Let's see, Richard and Daniel is hogging all the blood for themselves. Jemma, for some odd reason isn't acting like a newborn at all (this is also making Aro really curious to find out what her power is), so instead of drinking blood until she bursts, she decided that it's best to start flirting with me. I hate it when people flirt with me. There is nothing on this planet that I hate more. Oh, what else happened this week? Annika and Daniel are practically best friends now. Yeah, I'm not too excited about that. They were so annoying. Don't you just wish you had the same week I did? Want to trade?

Annika stopped making her visits to my room everyday. I would have never thought I would miss that. She seemed happier…well, more than usual. No more pranks, no more insults, and no more visits. This sounds weird, but I really want to be insulted right now. Now that Annika wasn't causing chaos anymore, everyone else seemed more at ease. All thanks to stupid Daniel.

Now there was someone I truly hated. I don't know why either. I avoided him when he wasn't inhaling as much blood as he could get his hands on. He seemed very keen to become friends with everyone. Daniel has made an almost success with that. He's friends with everyone but me. And Jane, but Jane doesn't really count because it's next to impossible to become her friend. I would know.

I was so bored all the time without Annika. I don't think I have ever been as bored as I am now. The only time I left my room was to feed on humans that were left behind by Daniel and Richard. Actually, I think drinking blood is the only thing we know about Richard. And he's very sexual. What an exciting guy, huh?

There really was no need for me to leave my room. Annika is entertained by Daniel, Jane entertains herself, Aro never needs my help; he just asks Jane when he needs something, and I don't want to talk to anyone else. I feel very antisocial at the moment, in case you didn't notice.

There was always the possibility of hanging out with Jemma. But I don't want to sit through a lecture (that goes on for hours) about how eating humans is wrong and then withstand another few hours of flirting. It makes me want to kill myself just thinking about it.

And on top of all this, everyone has seemed to completely forget that the Romanian coven will be coming any day with an army of who knows what and of a variable number. It's times like these that it seems like Jane and I are the only ones with common sense. I'm sure you've all been wondering where Jane has disappeared to and the answer to that is, in the basement practicing her fighting skills. She takes things very seriously. So, when the Romanians really do come, Jane and I will be the only ones fighting while everybody else is having a jolly good time. I wouldn't be surprised if Aro hosted a tea party, or rather a blood party sometime soon.

And now I'm ranting on about nothing. I need someone to vent on.

"Alec! Where did you go?" That was Jemma.

It sounded like she was trying to imitate Annika's happy mood and failing horribly. Yeah, because acting like Annika will make me want to go out with you. No, it will only make me want to rip your limbs off. And set fire to them. Just adding that as an after thought.

Jemma threw open the door. Didn't anyone ever knock anymore? I remained motionless and looking not amused, with my head resting in my hand and my elbow resting on my desk. However, she still welcomed herself in and sat down on my bed. In the same spot Annika always sat when she was mad at me. It looked unreal that Jemma was the one sitting in Annika's "angry spot". It looked even more surreal that instead of a scowl, Jemma had smile on her face. That spot was not for smiling on.

"That's Annika's spot," I said more to myself than Jemma.

She looked confused and her smile was gone.

"_Her_ spot?" She didn't look so perky anymore.

"Mmhm, that's where she would sit for hours and throw insults at me with probably the scariest looking scowl on her face the world has ever known," I said.

Ah, the good old days. The good old days that ended a week ago. The days where I had Annika's undivided attention even if she was only there insult me. I liked those days better than these days. These days were filled with boredom, boredom, boredom, boredom, boredom, boredom, Jemma, boredom, boredom, boredom, boredom, angst, and guess what, more boredom.

Jemma's "outraged" face was gone when she heard that the only reason Annika sat there was to make me feel miserable. Well, now I feel even more miserable without Annika to ruin my life.

"It doesn't sound like she was never very nice to you," she said, trying to sound sincere.

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p'. "And that's the way I liked it. It would be too weird if Annika ever tried to be nice to me."

"If you were best friends, would she still be rude to you?" Ooh, twenty questions. I loath that game. I seem to hate a lot of things, don't I?

"Yup, even if we were friends," I said.

Jemma stared at me for moment. It didn't look like she believed that.

"But Annika and Daniel are inseparable," she pursed her lips.

"I'm not Daniel, now am I?" I smirked. Jemma was kind of slow at times.

She nodded at this. "What if she had the biggest crush ever on you? Would she still put you down?"

"Let's hope she doesn't because her insults would probably be worst if she did," I said, laughing a little at the thought.

Jemma looked down at her feet, considering my answer, before she looked up again to ask another question.

"If you were boyfriend and girlfriend, would she still do it?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah she would."

"Married?" Jemma tried again.

"Yup," I said. I was starting to get bored with this. One, I never have thought about asking Annika to marry me, and two, Anna will insult me and try to start arguments with me no matter what. She has always been like that. She likes to win.

"Soul mates?" Wait, what?

Annika as my girlfriend was so far a no. Annika as my wife was an even bigger no right now. But Annika as my soul mate is a hell no.

"Knowing her, she probably will still find a way to make me feel miserable in some way or another."

Jemma seemed happy with all my answers and that annoying smile of hers crept back onto her face. I wanted to rip her mouth off so she will never smile again. I've been having some very violent thoughts lately. Hmmm.

"You know, Alec. I would never do anything to make you miserable," she murmured.

Oh, well in that case, having you as a wife is now totally out of the question. I happened to like getting picked on. I know it's weird. But it would be even weirder if I was never insulted by Annika again.

I didn't answer Jemma and she didn't make any sign that she was going to pressure an answer out of me. She just sat there, in Annika's "angry spot", biting her lip and looking back down at her feet.

"Do you like her?" Jemma asked suddenly.

"What?" That was a much unexpected question.

Jemma was now totally facing me. "I asked if you liked Annika. Like-like her."

Wow, she was such an average twenty-first century teenager. Like _like_ someone? Was the extra "like" necessary? Was one "like" not good enough?

"And what brought that up?" I asked.

She took a little while to answer. "You always stroke her hair. Even when she pushes you away. You still come back to her just to touch her face one more time." Jemma looked a little hurt when she said this.

Yeah, I touched Annika's hair a lot but that is because it was really soft and pretty. I like her hair. But that doesn't mean I like _her_that way. Actually, I don't know what I think about Annika. I never said I considered her as an "enemy", a friend, a best friend, or something more. She was and always will be just Annika. She doesn't have a category that she could fit into. She fits in her own category. The "Annika category".

"I know I do that. Doesn't mean I like her that way, though," I said and once again, Jemma looked happy.

I didn't like how those words sounded out loud. And I really want Jemma to go away. I need my "emo" time. Jemma wasn't going to leave me alone any time soon. She got up to stand behind me and looked over my shoulder at the notebook I was writing in. I write my troubles in a notebook when I can't find someone to vent on. Quickly, I closed the book before Jemma could see what I had written. I just wrote some things in that little book that I wouldn't even repeat inside my own mind.

"What were you writing?" Jemma asked.

"Just some thoughts," I responded and put the notebook into a drawer of the desk.

"What kind of thoughts?" She rested her hands on the back of my chair and leaned forward.

"None of your business thoughts," I snapped a little too harshly.

She jumped back slightly but appeared unfazed. Jemma moved back to her original spot and replaced her hands where they were before. Her fingers were almost touching the back of my neck. I leaned forward more so my stomach was pressing against the desk, as far away more her fingers as possible. I didn't let just anyone touch me. I squeezed out of the chair and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Jemma asked with curiosity mixed in with her voice.

"Somewhere. I don't know where. Just somewhere where there are other people," I told her.

"No, stay," She pleaded and grabbed onto the back of my shirt pulling me back a little.

"Why?" I asked. I was started to get frustrated with her.

She turned me around so I was facing her. Jemma was much, much to close.

"I like talking to you," she whispered. I could feel her breath on my face.

"Fine," I muttered and pulled away. I sat down on my bed away from her but sadly, she followed. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know. I'll tell you why I can resist blood so easily!" She perked up.

Oh, this should be good.

"Fine," I said again.

Jemma sat down next to me on the bed on Annika's "I'm frustrated and lonely" spot. Annika only sat in four areas in my room. Two were on the bed, one was my spinning desk chair (her "I'm super happy today" spot), and the last one was on the floor by my armchair where my feet usually rest and she lays her head in my lap. That's her "loving and caring" spot.

Once again, Jemma was much too close to me. Her were legs brushing against mine. She was smiling up at me again too. I, however, did not return the smile. Instead I gave her look that said "Hurry up and tell me already".

"I can persuade people to do anything I want! Even myself! If I don't want to drink human blood, I naturally persuade myself not to! It's perfect because drinking blood is wrong. I don't know why you guys think it's alright to…"

I blocked her out. That was an interesting power. It could become very useful too. She could just persuade the enemies to leave. If she really was telling the truth about her power. I couldn't tell if she was lying or not because she was mocking Annika's happy mood again. I think she's convinced that it makes her more attractive or something. Someone needs to tell her that it isn't working.

"…and if drinking animal's blood is a possibility then why the hell would vampires even think f hurting poor innocent humans. If you really think about—."

"Stop for a moment. How do you know that is your power?" I cut her off from one of her many rants about eating humans. She now hunts for animals instead of joining the rest of us for feeding time.

"Oh, because I tested it. I told Felix to wear some of Heidi's underwear and at first he didn't do it. But when I thought really hard and told him to do it again, my voice sounded all dreamy and he did it! Felix was walking around in Heidi's underwear! The really sparkly kind!" Jemma smiled as if she just made world peace.

Oh, that's just great. Jemma went back to her rant about humans and animals. One, that power could be very important if the Volturi want to protect their status as the royal family of vampires. Two, which also means she could make me do stupid things. The latter of the two, I wasn't so excited about.

* * *

I was able to shake of Jemma after hours of her ranting, what did I tell you? But now, I was witnessing one of the many Daniel and Annika moments. They were playing Candy Land (Annika's favorite game. I know, she has weird tastes) on the floor of Annika's bedroom. Both of them were so kind and allowed me to watch. Not join in, just watch. I thought this would be able to help me get over my everlasting boredom but no. I thought being in the same room as Annika (which also gives her the chance to insult me. See? Everybody wins that way) would make me happier but no. It has made me more bored, if that was possible, and even more stressed. If that was possible.

To make things worst, Daniel and Annika were having fun. And laughing. I sound so pessimistic when I say I didn't like it at all. Correction, I didn't like Daniel at all. It still makes me sound negative but it's closer to the truth.

Annika stood up. "Sorry, but I have to leave," she said. She wasn't smiling anymore. In fact, she looked rather grim when she said that.

And with that she skipped out the door as if she was a little school girl. That left me alone with Daniel, who was cleaning up the game and putting it back into Annika's chest of games. She had a lot of games, let me tell you. Anna was a game junkie.

Daniel wiped his hands together and nodded politely to me.

"I haven't really talked to you much yet," Daniel said while staring at the doorway Annika left through. "She's adorable," he chuckled and jerked his thumb towards the door.

Never in all the years Annika has been here has someone said she was adorable. Cute, yes. Childish, yes, that too. But adorable? That's pushing it a little.

"Yeah, I guess," I responded.

"She reminds me of a girl that I grew up with," Daniel smiled to himself, relishing in his human memories.

"Really?" I said, pretending to sound like I was interested.

"Yup. That same girl was my first kiss too," he said. "Have you kissed a girl yet?"

"Yeah, about three hundred years ago. Her name was Fiona," I said. I honestly didn't like where this conversation.

"Mines name was Miranda," he responded. "That was about three years ago," he added with a small laugh.

I smiled a little at his remark. Okay, so he wasn't as bad as I thought. But I still thought he was really annoying.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, this is the longest chapter so far. And I lied, **_**this**_** chapter is my favorite. I made it have a "love square" because a triangle just isn't good enough for me. :) Happy 2010! I hope it's going to be a great year for all of you! What are your New Years Resolutions? **

**Thanks again if you already reviewed and thank you for reading! I might update one more (or a few more ;D) before January 4****th****. **

**Love ya**


	8. I'm Confused

**~Annika~**

I skipped down the hallway, away from Alec and Daniel, off to do my "important" business. I still haven't thought up a name for Daniel! I don't want him to feel left out. I could still hear the two of them talking. Though I couldn't understand what they were saying. Oh well, it was probably just guy stuff. Guy stuff didn't really interest me at all.

I hopped up the stairs to the third floor. Where the werewolves were. I must say, I've become rather attached to all those wolves. I've been feeding them the left over bacon Mookie, Charzy, and Daniel didn't eat while they were humans. The wolfie people enjoyed seeing me too. I felt kind of bad for them because tonight will be a full moon and the moonlight won't be able to reach all the wolfie people so they won't transform into werewolves. They'll act like werewolves but they just won't be transformed. It's sad to watch.

I sat next to the bars and pressed my forehead against the bars. Aro was able to almost double their population by having Heidi fetch extra humans to turn into werewolves. One of the little kids came forward and stuck his hand through the bars to touch my forehead. All the little kids were so cute! Sometimes they rolled around and acted like puppies.

When I was human I really wanted a dog. It was the only thing I ever wanted as a human. I never did get one because I wasn't able to take care of myself. Even when I just got into my late teens I was still unable to care for myself. Much less an animal. There were a lot of things I could never do as a human that everyone else was able to do. Like having friends, celebrating holidays with family, playing games, and other little things like that.

I liked being a vampire. I am so glad that I was changed. Sure, I can never have kids of my own but I much rather lose that than be a human. Heidi and Renata always complained about how they will never be able to have kids. Chelsea never said anything out loud but I know she and Afton want children of their own. I've never drank a child's blood for a reason.

I looked back the tiny, little wolf boy. He bared his sharp, underdeveloped fangs playfully at me and fell over onto his bottom. He started giggling and it made me smile.

I visited the werewolves at the same time everyday and I was never late. I still couldn't figure out why Caius hated them all so much that he wanted to get rid of them. They acted like me only they were a bit furrier than I am. Well, Caius does tell me everyday that I'm annoying and should shut up every once in awhile. I don't though.

I laid down on the stone floor on my back and stared up at the ceiling. The ceiling was pretty. It was all different colors swirled together. I couldn't tell what it was suppose to look like so I use my imagination. It looks different to me everyday that I'm here. Today, it looked like a meadow with tons of flowers spotted everywhere.

I could hear footsteps coming up the stairs but I didn't move. It was probably Aro. He came up here a lot to check on the wolves to see if all of them were healthy and he was used to seeing my lying down in the middle of the floor doing nothing.

"Annika? What are you doing?" That was not Aro's voice though.

I sat up, my hair stuck out more than usual because I was lying on the floor, and saw Alec standing by the stairs, Of course he would follow me up here. Alec came over and sat down on the floor facing me.

"Just sitting," I answered him and he nodded and looked over at the werewolves.

"You looked kind of serious when you left earlier," Alec continued.

I laid back down on my back and stared back up at the ceiling.

"Didn't notice. This is where I come to think," I told him.

He scooted over so he was right beside me and laid back too. Alec stared up at the ceiling too to see what interested me about it.

"How come you've stopped coming by to my room to see me?" He asked, now moving his gaze to rest on my face.

I looked back at him. "Thought you hated it when I came to your room," I said.

Alec shook his head and sighed. Seriously, he always yelled at me to leave or physically pulled me out of his room. He missed me?

"Do you want me to come and visit you again?" I asked and he let out a small laugh.

"Oh, sure. I missed hearing your insults," he responded. "It has gotten lonely without you actually."

I nodded then looked back up at the ceiling. Honestly, I didn't have anything to say to him. I didn't even know why he bothered to follow me up here just to tell me to go all out and insult him again. He could have said that anywhere. In the bathroom, on the roof, in Caius' bedroom (I liked his room), in throne room, outside in the sunshiny open where all humans can see us, and even with a leprechaun. But this was my thinking spot. Not my Alec discussion spot, my thinking spot. And I liked to think about things where no one can bother me. Unfortunately, Alec sort of ruined this for me.

Alec still didn't say anything more. Great, so now he was just going to sit here with me. I guess this is payback for all the times I bothered him in his room. Fair enough.

"What do you think of the new vampires," Alec asked suddenly.

He was looking at me again.

"I like them. They seem nice but Jemma is kind of rude to me sometimes. Why is that?" I said.

"I don't know. She was complaining about you today," he said. Alec moved over so he was resting on his side and his entire body was facing me.

"That's nice," I muttered.

All I did to her was give her a new name. That was the only thing that comes to mind that could make her remotely mad at me. Charzy didn't seem to care. Whatever, I didn't care. Daniel was the friendliest out of all of them.

"She didn't seem to like the fact that I play with your hair," he added.

"I don't like the fact you play with my hair. It drives me up the wall," I said.

Smirking, he brushed my choppy bangs off my forehead. When Alec does that, it makes me want to bite his fingers off.

"Does Daniel play with your hair?" Alec asked. Okay, that was a strange question for Alec to ask.

I shook my head and Alec looked more relaxed.

"He said my hair looked funny," I said.

"Your hair does not look funny," Alec sighed and curled a strand of it around his fingers.

"Alec, you're blind. It sticks out and I can't get it to lay down right," I said.

Alec shrugged the best he could for someone laying on their side. He laid his head down to rest to the crook of his elbow and he fixed his gaze on the werewolves. Alec just watched the wolf children run back and forth, tackling each other. I turned over so I was lying on my stomach and I could get a better look at them. I crossed my arms and rested my head in the middle of them.

"Jane and I used to play rough like that," Alec said.

I looked back at him. Alec's eyes were still on the wolves until he saw I had turned to look at him.

"I still play like that," I smirked at him.

"Yes, yes you do," he chuckled.

I sat up and crossed my legs together and leaned back to put my weight on my hands behind me. Alec moved over too and laid on his back with his head in my lap. He crossed his ankles together too and closed his eyes. His hands were behind clamped together behind my back so I couldn't get up. I let him lay there though.

Daniel decided to barge right in though making Alec snap his eyes open.

"There you are, Annika! I was wondering where you went and--," he chattered excitedly but stopped when he saw Alec. "Oh, I see you're busy." His face fell a little.

"No, not really. Just hanging out," I said. "You can come in and sit with us," I offered.

"Nah, I sort of have things to do," he said.

"M'kay." And he left without another word.

Alec smirked and closed his eyes again. I felt his grip tighten around my waist slightly. Okay, I'm confused. Did something happen between them when I wasn't there?

* * *

**A/N: And...another short chapter. But that's okay because I wanted this to be a plot filler and at the same time have the Alec/Annika interaction everyone has been wanting me to do more of. :)**

**Ugh. I'm so mad right now. You don't even want to be around me that's how mad I am. A lot of "drama" has been happening between some of my friends and I have no choice but be stuck in the middle of it. I don't want to be in the middle. The middle is a horrible, horrible place. :(**

**But on a lighter note, Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! I love you all. :D**


	9. Adventure!

**~Alec~**

Wow, Annika lied to me. Not once has she come to make me miserable. Instead, she went back to hanging around her new best friend. In fact, she has been purposely avoiding me. When she sees me, she'll just turn around and walk in the other direction. Sort of makes me think Daniel said something to her.

Today I decided it was time to visit Jane. I haven't seen her all week. I sat on her bed and watched Jane gently bang her head against the wall. She hasn't been very happy all week either. But she has other reasons than me. Jane is mad at Aro actually. Yup, Aro. She doesn't think he's doing a good job of handling things at the moment. Which I can agree on. The newborns didn't know how to fight and neither did Annika because she has never had the need to defend herself before. The population of his werewolves is growing too slowly. The Cullens didn't want to fight for him. That was mostly Bella's fault. So, instead of trying to fix all these small flaws, he plays chess with no one but himself. Now you can probably see why Jane is so furious with him.

"I should be the leader for this," Jane said. "I wouldn't be sitting in my big comfy throne all day playing chess with myself. I would be trying to fix everything!"

Ah, my thoughts voiced exactly.

"I know, sister," I said just so she'd know I was listening.

"No one is ready! No one but you and me, Alec!" She continued.

Jane gets upset easily when things don't go her way. She's always been like that.

Jane stopped banging her head on the wall for a moment and turned to face me. The look on her face could have raised the dead. It was scary looking. She started to pout and stuck her lower lip out a little. I stood up and wrapped my arms around her to make her feel better. My head was resting on top of hers. Jane was digging her finger nails into my back. I didn't tell her to stop though.

"Jane, why don't you find something to do to take your mind off it?" I said softly into her hair.

"But I already tortured people today!" her voice was muffled because her face was buried into my chest.

I sighed. "How about you find a hobby that doesn't have to do with terrorizing people?"

She shook her head. "That's too hard."

I wasn't going to fight with her. She'll find something to do on her own. I let my arms drop to my sides to tell her I wanted to leave. Jane straightened out and nodded then went back to banging her head against the wall. By the end of the day I will bet you there will be a hole in the wall from where Jane's head banged into it. I took one last look at her then left so I may bang my head against my own wall. Well, not really. I already had to get my wall fixed once.

I liked today. It was relaxing. No Jemma or Daniel bothering me. Richard, I have no idea where he went. Jane was occupied. I was all alone in my nice quiet room. Annika was most likely with Daniel. That was the only stressful thing I had on my mind. That and the Romanians.

I was sitting at my desk, staring down at my notebook. I wanted to write in it but at the same time I didn't feel like it. Wait, I thought I left it in the drawer of my desk.

I opened it up to see that someone had scribbled all over it. Ah, crap. Someone read it. And was so kind enough to leave comments by every thought that I had. Lovely. The handwriting was really girly. A lot of the letters were swirled into each other. The comments were actually horrific for me to read. They were sappy.

_Once again, boredom has overcome me. Is it unhealthy to be this bored all the time? Is it even possible for a vampire to be unhealthy? __**Aww! Poor baby!**_

_The Cullen's hybrid confuses me. How is it even possible that she even exists? Male sperm cells need to be replenished everyday so how was a child conceived from a dead sperm cell? Unless, being a vampire doesn't entirely mean that we're dead and we still have some parts of the body still working. But if that's true then how come vampire females can't have babies? This world doesn't make sense anymore. **Wanna try out that theory? **_

_I feel confused today. Annika has stopped visiting me. I kind of miss her. __**That Skank.**_

Okay, I don't think I need to read anymore of this. It's starting to get to inappropriate and gross. I flipped through the pages. A lot of the comments were starting to get repetitive. Like, any page that says Annika's name or refers to her, there is a comment suggesting she's a slut. I had no idea there were that many words that could be a synonym of slut.

On the last page there was my name with a giant heart around it. My name and hearts don't go together. At all. And at the bottom of the page someone signed their name. That person was Jemma. I never saw her as someone that creepy. This whole notebook was creepy. There were things written in it that sounded like a rapist wrote it. I think I can officially say I've been scared for life. I've known her for how long? A few days? A week at the most?

I dropped the notebook in the trash. Well, there goes the only thing that would listen to my many thoughts. I don't want to even try and start a new one. I think I need to go wash my eyeballs after reading that. And bleach my brain while I'm at it.

I got up (and moved as far away from that book as possible) and moved to lie down on my bed. My anxiety levels just went up. I need one of those stress balls that you squeeze when you're all stressed out. Preferably that won't explode in my hands after I used it once.

I really wish I could go to sleep right now. I'm not tired; obviously, I just want to be left alone. But I never got my way and guess who just stopped by to join the anxiety party? If you guessed Daniel, congratulations, you just won the award of being a really good guesser.

I sat up to see him standing in my doorway. "What do want?" I snapped.

"Where's Annika?" he asked.

"Um, wasn't she with you?" Great, Annika is missing. And that, folks, is our entertainment for the anxiety party.

"No. I haven't seen her all day," he said.

My stomach dropped. Oh, that was just perfect. I got up and roughly pushed him out the way. I could hear Daniel following behind as I walked down the hallway towards the stairs. I climbed them, skipping every other one before I reached the landing.

The werewolves were all gone too. The bars looked like they were ripped open. I pinned Daniel swiftly against the wall.

"What did you say to her?" I asked.

"Nothing. I haven't said anything to her since yesterday!" he snapped back. "She probably left because of you. You were the last person I saw her with."

"Well, did you even look for her?" I growled.

"Yeah, of course I did. There's no fresh scent of her," he said. "The newest one I found was by the front doors above us and that was at least almost a day old."

"Why was she by the main doors?" I asked.

Daniel shrugged. I released my grip on him and left. Annika never left the castle unless Aro was with her and Aro was in the throne room with Caius and Marcus. I marched up to Jane's door and knocked loudly. She opened it and stared at me with a confused look on her face.

"Is the castle on fire or something?" she asked with a smirk.

I gently pushed her aside so I could get in. I grabbed her shoulders so she was facing me.

"Annika left," I said, my teeth bared tightly together.

Jane just raised an eyebrow at me.

"Like, actually left the castle?" she asked.

"No duh," I said.

She continued to look at me as if she was waiting for elaboration.

"So…what do you want me to do about it?" She shook her head slightly.

I left out a sigh. "Just grab your cloak and let's go."

* * *

Jane and I climbed over rocks and dodged trees. Following Annika's stale scent. The smell got stronger and stronger the farther we got.

"Wait, stop!" Jane called. "Before we go any farther, why do you think she left?"

I just shrugged. I didn't feel like talking. We were almost a day behind Annika and she had part of our army. And without the wolves we were screwed. I turned around to grab Jane's hand to pull her forward but she stayed put.

"Why do you even care?" Jane added.

"One, Aro will get so pissed if he found she was gone, and two, she has our werewolves with her so that's why we're going," I said and tried to pull her forward.

"Well, why do I have to go?" She screeched a little.

"I don't want to be the only one getting in trouble," I responded.

Jane hmphed and followed me again. She wasn't very happy right now. I looked up at the sky. It was starting to get dark. The lack of light didn't really affect our chances of finding them but Aro counts us when it gets dark to make sure we were all there. He's going to know we left. And most likely tear apart this forest looking for us.

Jane was trying to be a pain on purpose by going as slow as possible and still keeping up. She was really crabby. I think she wants to be the hostess of the anxiety party.

"Alec, I don't want to go any farther!" She whined.

"Fine! Then we'll sit here for awhile the pick up later!" I said and sat down on a nearby rock.

She sat down on the ground next to the rock and crossed her arms to show how unhappy she was. I already know that you would rather do something else, Jane. You don't need to remind me every few seconds. She looked up at me then shoved me off the rock. I fell flat on my back and gave her a glare. Smiling she sat herself onto of the rock and taunted me by sticking her tongue out. Whatever, I don't feel like fighting with Jane. She wants to sit there and act like a spoiled brat she can.

I actually like it better our here in the woods than at my desk in my room. The sounds of nature were much more peaceful than Jemma's rants. And more peaceful than Daniel going on about the "millions" of girlfriends he has had. I honestly don't care how many he's had.

I pressed my hands into the ground so I could move but something sharp pierced my left hand before I could stand. I looked down to see the sharp object sticking out of the ground. It looked it was stepped on so that's why it was stuck in to ground. I dug it out and held it up in the moonlight. It looked like a claw but it was much too big to belong to an animal. I would say it was almost a foot long. It was black and had ridges swirling all the way from the bottom to the very tip.

"Jane, come look at this," I called over to her.

Jane looked up and saw was I was holding. Her eyebrows knitted together and she got up and took it from me. She studied it for awhile before giving it back to me.

"What is that?" she asked.

"I don't know. It's really sharp though. If you brush the ridges the opposite way they're going it cuts into your hand," I said.

Jane leaned over my shoulder to look at it some more.

"Where did you find that?" she asked.

"It was sticking out of the ground," I told her. "It's too big to belong to an animal."

"What about one of the werewolves? The moon is out," Jane said and pointed towards the sky.

"It's still too big to belong to one of them," I said.

Then I realized that the werewolves were with Annika fully transformed. It was in their nature to rip apart anything near them. Especially vampires. They have no control over their thoughts or actions either when they're in wolf form so making friends with them would do you no good. I looked back over my shoulder at Jane. She was still looking at the sharp object I found.

"Jane. The moon is out and Anna has the werewolves with her," I said and shook her own shoulder to get her attention.

She stared back at me with a little bit of shock in her eyes but that quickly disappeared.

"Oh, well, then let's head back since she's probably dead now," Jane said and she hopped down from the rock and started to head in the direction of which we came from.

"Jane, wait," I called her back over.

She didn't stop walking. I knew she wasn't entirely serious about leaving if she was _walking_ back to the castle. I ran up to catch up with her and grabbed her arm and pulled her in the other direction. Jane stopped walked and smirked.

"Yes?" She asked, still smiling in a teasing way.

"Jane, come on. Let's keep going this way," I said and gently pulled her in the direction I wanted to go in again.

She didn't struggle and walked right in front of me.

"We're going slow, though because I don't want to run into the wolves while they're transformed," She called back.

* * *

**A/N: Tomorrow I'm going back to school and I won't be able to update on weekdays because of homework and basketball practice. There goes my super fast updating reputation. :( **

**Next Update: Saturday, January 9th 2010. Central Time**

**Thank you all once again for reading! :) Please review and tell me how I'm doing. **

**Love ya**

**~W~**


	10. Kiss

**~Annika~**

I jumped over fallen trees and rocks. I was planning on letting the werewolves go free because they didn't look very happy behind the bars. But so Aro can't totally kill me for doing so, I planned to let them go free right next to the Romanians. First I had to find them though. The wolfie people listened to me without struggle. At this rate we should be able to find them. The wolves would be able to sense other vampires and the only other vampires that should be coming towards this way are those Romanians. Everybody wins this way.

This was my second time out of the castle. The first was to hunt down humans for Mookie, Charzy, and no name and I didn't get to travel very far. Now, I was in the woods! It was almost nightfall too so I would have to stop since werewolves actually do get tired.

We stopped by this large rock and the all laid down on their backs to rest. They were still in their human forms though. It was kind of hard to start a conversation with one of them because most of them didn't even know how to talk because they were raised in the wild. The ones that could talk were antisocial and kept to themselves. So I was practically alone with nothing but my thoughts to keep me occupied.

I sat on the rock and looked up at the sky. It wasn't entirely dark yet but it was dark enough to see the stars and the moon. They looked pretty tonight. The only time I got to see them was through a window but now I'm looking at them in person.

Some of the werewolves started to moan and groan a little. I looked back at them and felt my stomach tie itself in knots. Ah, crap. They were changing into their wolf forms. I could hear the crunching their bones were making as they started to jut out. Their faces stretched to make muzzles. Finger and toe nails were now sharp claws. Fur started to sprout on their skin. Drool dripped from between their sharp teeth and they growled menacingly once they caught sight of me.

My spikes naturally sprung out of my own skin as defense. When they saw I had a weapon they faltered. One brave wolf jumped out and tried to clamp his jaw around my leg but the spike there went all the way through the roof of its mouth, killing him. I pushed his head off my leg. Sadly, seeing a member of there own pack killed didn't make them stop their advances. I took one of the spikes out of my wrist that could grow back and threw it at one of them, but I missed.

I ran off as fast as I could (my spikes retracted back into my skin when I started running). Werewolves were really fast too. Now I can see why Caius wanted to get rid of them all. Taking a bunch of werewolves with me into the woods alone was probably not my best idea yet. I feel stupid now, but at least they aren't behind bars anymore. That was something to be happy about if you wanted to be optimistic about the situation. However, I didn't want to be optimistic about this.

I crashed into a few trees by accident and some of them fell on top of the wolves. But there were still a lot following me. We were causing a ruckus. I wouldn't be surprised if Aro heard all of this. Probably not. We were pretty far away from the Volturi.

I turned around and scratched a few more. I was making very deep wounds in their skin. I could hear the sound of rushing water. There was a river nearby! I jumped over rocks and dodged more trees, heading towards the sound.

I reached a dead end. There was a huge cliff and I was at the very edge. But I found the river! At the bottom of the cliff. Oh, that's just perfect. The barking and growling was getting louder. I turned around and I couldn't see them yet. But the thuds of their paws on the ground were getting closer too. Well, I had nothing to lose so I jumped.

When my body collided with the water it made a big splash. I swam back up to the surface and shook my wet hair out of my face so I could see. The remaining werewolves were standing at the edge of the cliff, continuing to bark at me. I could tell they weren't going to jump. It was too far for them and they would kill themselves by crashing into the rocks or drowning.

I swam over to land on the other side of the river. I sat on the grass for a moment to relax my mind after that fiasco. I rang the water out of the skirt of my Volturi dress (all the females wore dresses that stopped in mid-thigh and the guys just wore pants). I laid back and curled up on the grass. Well, now I can fulfill the dream of leaving out in the wild considering I had gotten myself lost. Okay, now I felt even stupider. I hope Aro didn't send anyone to find me because I am still going to make my way to Romania.

The wolves turned around and left once they realized they couldn't get to me. It was quiet now. The sound of the river, the crickets chirping, and the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees calmed me down a bit.

I stood up and went back to hiking towards my destination. Off to go finish what I started. The piece of land I was on was only big enough for a few people to sit on. It was surrounded, but two sides, by another cliff with rocks that looked even more dangerous than the one across the river. I didn't mind. The rocks couldn't hurt me so I hitched my leg onto one of the lower ones and started to climb up. When I got to the top I faced with more of the forest.

I was still a little shaken from being chased and had to sit down again. When the sun came out I would start out again. That gives me some time to sort out my thoughts.

* * *

**~Alec~**

Jane was strutting out in front of me. I wasn't too happy about the idea of going slow. Jane still had the spike and was twirling it around like a baton. One of these days she is going to hurt herself.

Suddenly, Jane stopped in her tracks and looked back at. She held a finger up to her lips to tell me to be quiet.

"Do you hear that?" she whispered.

I listened for a moment and tried to hear what made Jane stopped. It was barking. And the sound of trees crashing down to the ground followed by yelps. All the noise sounded as if it was very close by.

"Do you think that's the werewolves?" Jane asked.

If it was, we were screwed even more than before. They were that close. Jane grabbed onto the sleeve of my cloak and started to pull me away from the noise. I yanked back harder and she tripped and fell into the dirt. She pushed me and I fell on top of her.

"Stop it," I hissed. "Annika could be where the wolves are."

"If she is then she's probably torn apart by now!" Jane hissed back.

I didn't want to think that. I stood up and headed for the barking. Jane followed and kept close to me. The closer we got, the more the barking and growling seemed to simmer down. I broke out into a run. Maybe they were leaving.

"Alec!" Jane whispered called to me.

I turned around to see that Jane was pointing at the ground. I followed her finger with my eyes to see what she was pointing at. Dead bodies. Dead bodies of _werewolves_. They were still in their wolf form but with large gashes slashed into their skin. Whatever cut them seemed dangerous.

"Maybe it was the same thing that left this spike that did this too," Jane suggested and held up the black object.

I nodded. "Come on."

We ran on for a few more miles until we could hear the sound of water rushing and Jane stopped again. This time I already saw what made her stop. Trees that have fallen on more werewolves. Jeez, were there anymore left at this point? I looked up from the bloody mess and saw an opening. Curious, I walked forward quietly in case those weren't the last of the wolves. I made it just in time to see about twenty wolves scamper off along the side of a cliff back into the woods.

Jane caught up and ran over to the edge of the cliff. That made me nervous to see her that close to the edge. I waked up behind and looked over the edge too. The water was pretty calm.

"Well, it looks like down is the only way to go," Jane said and jumped into the water.

I shrugged and jumped in with her. Jane was treading water and smelling the air.

"Annika's scent is really strong here," Jane remarked and swam over to the only little piece of land in sight.

I swam after her and climbed out on the strip of land too.

"It's extra strong here," Jane said again.

The way she was sniffing the air reminded me of a dog. Jane sniffed her way over to a rock wall and started to climb.

"Come on, fatty!" She called and hulled herself over the edge.

I am not fat. But I climbed up after her and came face to face with Annika. She looked surprised and Jane was smirking in the background at the shocked look on my face. I wrapped my arms around Anna in the tightest hug.

"I thought you were dead," I murmured softly in her hair.

She didn't hug back, instead she stiffened. I didn't let go though, not even when Annika started to nudge me away little by little. She then placed her hands on my chest and pushed me away completely. This made Jane laugh out loud. Oh, shut up, will you.

"Okay, time to go," Jane said and tried to pull Annika back towards the water.

She didn't budge. "I'm not going back. I'm going forward to Romania!"

Jane gave her a pathetic look. "Um, why?"

Annika stood up and brushed the dirt off her knees.

"Because I'm tired of everyone complaining about them and yet at the same time no one is doing anything," she answered.

"We still have to go back though," I added in.

Annika shook her head. "Not yet. I'm going to Romania."

She turned on her heels and marched forward into the trees. I noticed she was barefoot too. I got up and hurried on after her. I heard Jane sigh but the sound of her small feet padding through the dirt followed.

"Annika, I'll go with you," I said and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Okay," she answered simply. "I don't mind."

Jane caught up with us too but didn't say anything. She looked crabby again. Probably because our stay in the forest has just expanded.

"Anna, where are your shoes?" Jane asked looking down at her feet.

Annika stopped and looked down then shrugged. "I don't remember." And she continued to walk. "I'm going to walk for awhile, just letting you know," she added.

She quickened her steps a bit so she was out in front of us.

"Let's look for somewhere to stop. I'm done traveling for the night," Annika called back.

She stopped in front of a large tree which had very thick branches. Smiling, she climbed up into the tree out of sight. Jane looked even more annoyed at the fact that Annika wanted to sit in a tree than I thought was possible at the moment. Anna's head popped out from the leaves. She was hanging upside down by her knees.

I placed my foot on the side of the tree and hoisted myself up. Jane raised her eyebrow and stayed put.

"This is my branch," Annika claimed and pointed to the branch she was perched on.

"Well, then this one is mine," I said and climbed up onto a branch bigger than Annika's.

She snorted. "Fine, you can have that branch. It's ugly enough to match your face. How perfect. I hope it's big enough to hold all your weight. Probably not."

Finally! I was waiting for what seemed like forever for her to say something like that.

"Are you seriously arguing over which tree branch to sit on?" Jane asked and climbed up into it herself.

"Yes. Don't you do that?" I answered jokingly.

She rolled her eyes at me. Jane started to crave away at the bark in frustration with the black object we found. I honestly don't know why she kept it. Annika's eyes followed it as Jane roughly craved lines down the bark.

"Where did you find that?" Annika asked.

Jane looked up from her little "art project" she had going on. She looked down at the long spike in her hand.

"Found in lodged in the ground, why?" She responded.

"Well, that's mine," Annika stated. "It's my power. Spikes shoot out of my skin when there's danger and some can be snapped off to use as projectiles. It's kind of a sucky power, really."

Jane stared at her in confused. I was sort of shocked myself. How can a power that doesn't involve the mind be considered crap?

"How does it suck?" Jane asked.

"Well, I look really stupid when I use it!" Annika exclaimed. "Not being modest here, I really do look like an idiot."

Jane shrugged and went back to her carving. Annika, who has seemed to have forgotten all about what we were just talking about, started to climb higher in the tree. Some leaves fluttered down as she did so.

Jane sighed. I could tell she was getting restless. She stabbed the spike into the tree branch and started to climb out of the tree. I couldn't see where she went. I jumped down a little, but not completely out of the tree, to see where she went. I hung from one of the lower branches to see Jane sitting on a nearby rock, mumbling to herself angrily. That means to leave her alone so I climbed back up into the tree.

Annika was sitting on one of the highest branches that looked too little for me to even try to get on without breaking it. She caught me staring and smiled then hopped over to the branch next to hers. More leaves fell as she did so. Some landed on my head but I shook them off. She kind of blended in with the surroundings since it was so dark outside and she was wearing dark clothing and her hair is black.

I sat on the highest branch that was thick enough for me to sit on. I was much heavier than Annika so I couldn't go much higher otherwise I would snap branches off. I was startled slightly when the branch shook a little when Anna sat down beside me. I wasn't expecting that. She looked up at me with no emotion on her face. Her eyes were starting to turn a darker red. Great, that reminding me that we needed to find humans to feed off of and clearly there are none in this forest.

She jumped down onto my branch, startling me slightly. Annika bounced a little and made more leaves fall. By tomorrow morning, probably all the leaves will be gone! Not really. Annika leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder and wrapped her arms around my waist. Apparently, somebody is lonely right now and wants attention. I wrapped my arm across her back and let her sit there with her face in my chest.

"You smell weird," she said, breaking the silence and her head shot up. "You smell like perfume that hookers wear," she added.

I nodded. "I mostly likely do. Jemma was hanging around in my room and it looked like she sprayed everything of mine with some perfume she got Heidi to buy her."

Annika let her hands drop from my waist and she gripped the branch. Her glance was fixed on something bellow us.

"I just noticed something," she said.

"What?" I asked.

"We're in a tree," she said simply.

I laughed a little at her remark. I leaned over to give her a teasing peck on her forehead (she was used to it) but she moved her head up at the wrong time and I ended up brushing my lips against hers. I quickly pulled away once I realized what I was doing. She had a serious look on her face with some confusion. Annika then pushed me out of the tree with both hands and I landed on the ground sprawled out on my back. I take it she didn't quite like that very much.

Jane was now staring at me, trying to hold back her laughter. I gave a glare and she stopped and went back to what she was doing before but I could still tell she wanted to laugh at me.

I got up and brushed the dirt off. I left a big dent in the ground too. I looked back up into the tree and I couldn't see Annika anymore. She probably moved to a different branch.

So, let's take a look at my mental check list. Found Annika? Check. Aro is now pissed off at us for leaving without permission? I can guarantee he is. Did my week get better yet? Nope, not really.

* * *

**A/N: I've decided my updating day will be Saturday for now on. It'll just make things easier for me.**

**Thank you all for reviewing/favoriting/alerting! And thank you for reading!**

**Suggestions? Thoughts? Opinions? Let me know how I'm doing. I love to get feedback. :)**

**Love ya**

**~W~**


	11. Sometimes

**A/N: I've decided to move my author's notes to the top. Just to change things around. Sorry I didn't update on Saturday like I said I would. I was on vacation and I totally forgot I was leaving. I will try to update next Saturday because I want to start an updating routine and next time I go on vacation I'll try harder to remember to tell you. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and tell me what you thought. :D**

**~Annika~**

I am still sitting in the tree. Alone. Alec and Jane were somewhere over by the rocks next to the tree. It was morning too. This means we have to start hiking again. I didn't even know where Romania is so I'm sort of just following Alec and Jane.

I sat up and the branch groaned under my weight. I was in some serious need of a shower. There was mud all over my clothes and skin and I had twigs stuck in my hair. I plucked the sticks out and hopped out of the tree.

I walked over to the rock pit to get the other two so we could start going. They were sitting on a rock talking. Jane didn't look very happy. She looked more frustrated than mad actually.

"Alec, I want to leave," Jane complained.

"We can't," Alec said for the umpteenth time today.

"Yes, we can. No one said we have to. I'm going to turn back and go home," Jane said firmly. "If you want to go and get killed, that's fine with me. I hope you learn your lesson then."

"I'm not going to die, Jane," Alec said reassuringly.

"Whatever. What am I going to tell Aro when he asks where you are?"

"Tell him Annika and I are doing laundry or something. Community service laundry for…the poor and needy children…and dogs charity…thing."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like he'll buy that one."

Jane stood up and marched back over to the path. She didn't even look at me when she passed. Alec didn't move. His head was in his hands now. Looking back at Jane for another second, I moved towards Alec. He looked up at me but didn't say anything. He looked sort of embarrassed.

"You can leave if you want," I told him. "This is a dumb idea anyway," I added.

He shook his head and stared at something in front of him. Sighing, I sat down next to him. Alec tensed as I did so. God, what was wrong with him today?

"Jane is already leaving," he said. "I said I would stay with you."

"But I'll go back willingly too," I said but Alec shook his head again.

"Nope. You're going to finish what you started," he responded stubbornly.

"What did I start?" I asked, confused.

Alec finally looked up at me. "The advance on the Romanian Coven. It's better to catch them in their own land when they have no army than just sit around and wait for them to enter Italy."

He had a point. Though, I had no idea I even had a plan. What, were we just going to go to Romania, walk up to them and say _Hey, sorry we're interrupting your plans of taking over the vampire world, but we've come to kill you! Isn't that awesome? We thought so too._ Yeah, no. I don't think that would go very well.

Alec wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him so I was pressed up against his chest.

"Hey, Alec. Do you wanna let go anytime soon?" I asked.

"Nope," he said and he rested his face on top of my head.

"Are you sure?" I tried again.

He nodded. I put my hands on his chest and gently pushed him away. I need my personal space. I moved to the rock across from him and laid back a little. He was watching me, I could tell.

"Did Jane seriously leave?" I asked.

"Yup," he responded. "She isn't here with us, now is she?"

I could hear him stand up and move closer. He offered his hand to help me up. I guess it's time to go. I didn't use his helping hand and he let it drop slowly to his side. I climbed over the rocks back up to the path and waited at the top for Alec. I let him go in front of me since I didn't know where to go. He preferred to walk beside me, though.

* * *

We could finally run through the forest instead of walking because it was daylight. The bad part was there were no humans around. There weren't even any animals around. I knew both of us were thirsty. It's been almost a week since either of us last fed. When we were thirsty, we do things slower than usual. I hated going slower than I could.

Not much conversation happened between Alec and me. And Alec made sure he was right next to me the whole time. Yup, I am now convinced he's on shrooms. That would actually be sort of interesting to find out if certain drugs really work on vampires. I'll use Alec as my tester.

After hours of running through what seemed like an endless forest, I heard cars rushing back and forth not very far from here. I nudged Alec towards that direction but he stopped and planted his feet, telling me he didn't want to go in the direction.

I pushed him into the dirt for being difficult. Alec just got back up and shoved me back, not as hard as I shoved him but enough to make me stagger slightly.

"What the hell is your problem?" he asked.

"I want to go by the cars! It'll be easier walking by a road than it is running through trees!" I snapped back.

"How is that smart? The sun is out and if we do that we'll be exposed! Even if we ran we would still be exposed because the people would see blurs!" Alec said through his teeth. "We're not as fast as we would be if we fed so yeah, the people will see us."

"I still think it'll be easier. What if we wait until it gets darker or when the sun gets blocked out?" I asked, a lot more softly than before.

"I'm done waiting," Alec said.

"Fine. I'll just go by myself," I said and made my way for the cars.

Alec sighed and I heard him follow behind me.

The road was actually a lot closer than I thought, and it was really busy. On one lane the traffic was backed up a long way. I sat down on the ground with my back resting up against the truck of the tree nearest to me. My throat was burning pretty bad now. At this point, I would drink the blood of anything.

Alec sat down too and closed his eyes and leaned back against a different tree. He looked like he was asleep. Obviously he wasn't.

I glanced back towards the road. It looked like it was even busier than before and the sun was still out. It must be boring to just sit in a car for who knows how long. If I was stuck in a car, I would have been driven crazy by boredom.

"Your feet are really dirty," Alec said suddenly.

Yeah, I forgot shoes. I hate shoes, though, so I didn't mind. My feet were really dirty, actually. There was almost no skin showing on the bottoms of them.

"Yup," I said simply.

"Do you want shoes?" Alec asked.

"Sure. But I don't see any place where we could get shoes. And we don't have money," I pointed out.

"When we feed let's just steal the person's credit card. Then go buy shoes for you."

Oh, that's nice. Alec and I both needed new clothes. He was pretty filthy too. Alec's hair was sticking up a bit in the back and he had mud all over him and his clothes.

He didn't say anything after that remark about stealing. Instead, he stood up to look over at the road.

"I don't want to wait anymore. This is boring. I'm just going to walk around the road," Alec said and gave me look to tell me to get up and follow him.

"Can we go into a town?" I asked.

Alec stared at me like I was crazy. I'm taking that as a no to the idea. If he didn't like my ideas then why didn't he just tell me his plans? You know, never mind. I don't want to listen to his ideas. I'm going by myself.

I stood up, turned my back to him, and started to walk along the edge of the forest, following the road. I didn't hear him follow me this time and I didn't dare look back to see if he was. Alec was starting to get on my nerves.

I looked up at the sky and saw few clouds, which was kind of disappointing. I didn't start to run either, in case Alec changed his mind and did follow me, it'll be easier for him to find me.

Apparently I was walking faster than I thought because I had reached a dead end. On my right side there was the forest and there was no point to go back now, and in front of me there was nothing. There was a hill that went straight down towards the road. There were smaller trees scattered along side the road so I guess I could walk by the road and if anyone saw I could just use a tree to block the human's line of view. Not the best idea ever but I guess it'll have to do for now.

* * *

Well, I was right; it was not the best idea ever. Number one, even though I ran people still saw me and two, I glittered making me totally obvious. Sparkling is the worst part about being a vampire because in my opinion, it makes us look lame. We're not very intimidating when we're sparkling. I guess it didn't matter if people saw me considering I was already in big trouble for leaving without permission and letting the werewolves go.

I was now in a small village off the city of Sienna, Italy. I don't even think this village is even on the map because on the one I was looking at right now it wasn't.

I fed, finally. I feel so much better now I'm not thirsty and I find it is easier to do things. I also stole my victim's wallet with his credit cards in them like Alec said to do and bought new clothes. I didn't like the idea of stealing from the man but it's not like he was going to need his money anymore. Still, I felt bad. He didn't have a family and he was pretty old. Maybe in his late eighties or older. I think he was really sick too because his blood tasted a bit off. He was actually begging me to kill him and that just made me even sadder. I buried the man and marked it with a grave to show respect just like Aro did for the humans the Volturi feed off of.

I was now sitting on a bench outside of a general store. Here, it was cloudy so I didn't have to hide. Alec never did follow me either. I wished he did because I was lonely now. I consider him a friend now. Not a best friend or even a good friend. Just one of those people you don't mind talking to or spending time with.

There were children playing ball close by. I was watching them play for awhile until their parent's yelled at me for doing so. This town was filled with strange people. There were actually stores selling defense charms against vampires, werewolves, witches, and other supernatural creatures. They even had execution places set up to kill said creatures. If they did find out I was vampire they wouldn't be able to damage me in anyway so I wasn't worried.

No one has noticed my eyes yet either because while they were black (it looks more like a normal eye color) I bought colored contacts at the general store. It took me awhile to figure out how to put them in but once I did my eyes looked brown. I got dark brown but it showed up lighter. I bought extras too because the venom in my eyes will eat away at them if they're kept in too long. Everything I bought was in a duffle bag (also new) by my feet.

I have to say, I was really bored. Without Alec I had no idea where to go because I didn't know where in Romania the coven was so I couldn't go on and I didn't know the way back to the castle either. God, I hope I wasn't going to be stuck in this town filled with lunatics.

I'm guessing I was looking pretty shady because I've gotten many stares and people were whispering about me. I could hear them and they were not saying very nice things. Most thought I was a witch and debated amongst themselves whether or not to report me and have me executed.

The sun was starting to set. I haven't realized just how long I've been sitting here for until now. Apparently for hours.

I got up and dragged my stuff to a dingy looking motel just to get out of the streets. It looked fine on the inside on the contrary to the outside. The staff, however, was not nice at all. It took them longer than it should have to give me a room.

I took a shower with the soap the motel provided and stuffed those in my bag too for later.

It wasn't that bad of a room. There was one queen sized bed up against the wall with a small square window above it. There was a small closet and a tiny full bathroom. By the bed there was a nightstand with a lamp but that was all there was in the room. At least it was clean. I was worried there would be bugs and mold everywhere.

I jumped up onto the bed and laid back. Right about now I wished I could go to sleep and just forget everything I was that stressed. I don't even know what I was stressed about.

Time flied by while in the room too. It was really late when there was a knock on the door. I got up and opened the door to see the crabby lady that checked me in before standing there with Alec standing behind her. Yes, Alec.

"Here, this boy has been pestering me for an hour for you," she spat and let Alec into the room. Well, there solves my companionship problem.

"Thanks," I said shortly and the lady rolled her eyes and walked back down the hall.

Alec sat down on my bed and looked up at me. "Found you," he said, chuckling a little.

"How?" I asked.

"Annika, have you ever smelled yourself? I could probably find you from countries away," he said, smirking.

His eyes were red too so Alec was pretty much taken cared of. Except he was still dirty. Ew, he was sitting on the bed with his filth.

"Alec, get off the bed. You're dirty," I said and pushed him to the floor.

He didn't take a shower because he didn't have clean clothes to change into and there was no point to take one if he was just going to wear the same muddy clothes so he sat on the floor while I was on the bed. We didn't talk much either. We've been spending so much time together we both have run out of things to say and we've stopped making fun of each other. Well, Alec stopped but I didn't. He didn't react to the "insults" anymore which was sort of disappointing for me. Making fun of Alec was one of my favorite pastimes. That also means I am extra bored. Even more so than before.

"Did you see the vampire charms?" I asked just to start a conversation.

He looked up and me and nodded. Seconds later, he had burst out laughing.

"Humans just keep getting weirder," he said. "Some creepy old lady tried to sell me garlic."

I smiled slightly at him. The more he went on, by the sound of it, the people here didn't think there was anything wrong with Alec. He said no one had called him anything when I mentioned I was called a witch.

"How long do you want to stay here? I looked at the weather and it said it was going to be cloudy here for awhile but the surrounding cities have no clouds," Alec remarked.

"I don't care how long. We can live here for all I care," I responded.

"I wouldn't want to live in a place where they hunt vampires," he said in a mock outraged voice. Alec seemed much happier than the day before.

"It'll bring us a thrill," I said, playing along.

"What? I'm not exciting enough for you?" He asked jokingly.

"Sometimes you are," I said and he leaned over and messed my hair up. I didn't care.

"Good. I was starting to think I was too dull for you," he said.

"Nah. You've never been dull," I said and Alec smiled to himself.


	12. Flames Between Us

**A/N: I'm alive! I know, I know. It's been months since I last updated. I could go on with a bunch of excuses, but the main reason why I haven't updated is writer's block. So, if there's anyone still reading this, I hope you enjoy. **

**I have a question, too. Who's point of view should I keep the rest of the story in? Annika's, Alec's, or third person? Let me know, please.**

**~Annika**

Alec wasn't in a good mood today, and I don't blame him. In fact, neither of us have been very happy this week. Mostly it's due to the problem that we can't leave this little village. It's not like we don't want to leave, we just aren't allowed to. The people who live here have found out we were feeding among them. As superstitious as they were, no one was allowed to leave. Don't get me wrong, I know that no human would be able to stop me from just walking out of here. The real reason Alec and I haven't left is it would give us away, and that would be breaking one of the vampire rules.

Since we're both in so much trouble right now, well at least I am, we can't afford to break another law. Aro is probably already planning out how to kill us. Most people get this confused, but Aro doesn't care how powerful you are or how special you are to him. If you break the rules, he has to get rid of you. Aro liked that Bella person, but that didn't stop him from marching all the way to Forks to get rid of her and her family.

Then again, at the same time I do want to go back, even if it means I will be horribly punished. I've been punished before, but for more minor things. Nothing death sentence worthy. I don't think anyone would sentence someone to death for flooding the entire first floor of the castle. Well, anyone but Caius.

I would be marching back to Volterra right now if it wasn't for that fact I am sort of worried by what would happen if I did. As selfish as ii sounds, I don't ever want to die. Maybe when it's the end of the world and everything is spontaneously blowing up, I will except death.

I've always wondered, though, would vampires die along with the humans if the world blew up? We're immortal and the only thing that can kill us is another vampire or a werewolf. If there's no more living things with blood on the planet, how are we supposed to feed? Can vampires starve from lack of blood? See, there are so many loose ends on our existence.

Usually I would ask Aro these questions until his head would explode, but he's miles away at the moment. Miles away and filing his nails, getting ready to rip my head off.

So here I am now, living in trees with an undesirable person instead of in a castle. The crabby lady at the motel kicked Alec and me out because apparently we were taking advantage of her services. We asked her to give us one extra towel. Is that so much to ask for?

This whole trip I have been trying to make friends, or at least an acquaintance with Alec. That is just about as easy as dressing a tiger up in salsa dancing outfit. In other words, it's next to impossible for me. Sometimes he acts friendly towards me, but then follows moments of hatred. Hate is a strong word, and I wouldn't necessarily say he hated me all the time, but he sure acted like it.

I'm starting to think Alec is becoming bipolar.

Also, I wish Jane was still here. True, she is cruel and sadistic, but she is much better company than Alec. Jane can actually hold a conversation for more than five minutes.

"Could you please stop staring at me?" Alec shook me out of my thoughts. Hm, this is a little awkward. I could have sworn I fixed my gaze on a tree.

"Sorry," I apologized and turned away to face an actual tree. I could sense Alec staring intently at me. We've been around each other for far too long, obviously.

Alec let out a huge sigh, stood up, and started to walk away, leaving me sitting by the edge of the forest that surrounded the village. It didn't take a genius to know Alec was growing tired of me. So of course I got up to follow him. Why would I miss such a perfect moment to tease him about pointless things?

"Is little Alec PMSing?" I asked, jokingly. He didn't take notice in anything I just said. He didn't even acknowledge me and just kept walking towards some small shops."Jeez, this is going to take a lot of chocolate."

Suddenly, Alec whirled around and grabbed both of my wrists tightly. If I was still a human, my hands probably would have been severed from my arms, he was holding them so strongly. His eyes flashed with annoyance and I started to feel nervous. I didn't take back my little joke, I almost never do, I'm just worried he might have a "moment" and kill a bunch of people. Then we would be in some bigger trouble.

"Shut. Up," He said slowly and harshly. Alec let go of my wrists and continues to walk. We attracted much attention from bystanders, but I don't think Alec really cares.

"Oh. Kay," I mimicked loud enough for him to hear, but once again, he took no notice.

I started to follow Alec again and waited for him to say something else. Nothing, and I didn't say anything either to provoke him. Alec would most likely bite my head off if I did. However, he didn't reject to me walking beside him, so Alec couldn't be that mad at... whatever he was mad at.

"Alec," I started to see if his response was negative or not. He stopped abruptly in his tracks and looked at me, waiting for me to continue. "Ar-are you okay?"

For what seemed like hours, though I know it was only seconds, Alec seemed to mull the thought over. The more he stood there and thought, the more calmer he seemed to get, which I guess I could take as a good sign. Finally, Alec shook his head no, but didn't move from where he stood. I moved to touch his arm but he quickly jerked it away and folded both arms across his chest.

"I know you hate me, Anna," Alec said. I was kind of surprised at this remark. Never did I ever say I hated him. He irritated me, annoyed me, and even ignored me, but I don't consider these enough to hate someone. To be honest, I didn't have anything to say to him now.

"I don't hate you," I said because it was the only thing I could think of. Alec just stood there, emotionless.

Just as it looked like he was going to reply, there was a ground shaking boom coming from behind us. I turned around and saw buildings bursting into flames. People were running and shrieking all around us. It was a very frightning sight to see.

I felt Alec grab my hand, pulling me towards him as we made our escape.

* * *

**A/N: Soooo...how was it? I think my writing style has changed since I last updated. You're also free to make suggestions to the plot, if you want. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	13. Happy Times

**A/N: People still remember this story! This calls for celebration! Thank you all for reviewing, faving, and alerting. It's much appreciated! As always, thanks for taking the time to read, too.**

**In other news, this chapter was inspired while, I kid you not, eating cheese. So I guess in order for this story to continue...I have to eat cheese. Weird, no? I've also decided that once I finish this, I will go back and edit some chapters since I have better editing habits than I did in January.**

**Thanks for reading! Stay beautiful, folks.**

**The rest of the story will be in Annika's point of view, by the way. :)**

* * *

I suppose it is rather strange for a vampire to be frighten by something, isn't it? Alec isn't particularly fond of fire, and I don't exactly enjoy watching families burst into flames. Who does? Well, besides Jane.

The fire seemed to just have happened spontaneously. Out of no where, but Alec and I both knew that wasn't the case. Things like that just don't happen.

Seeing fire licking up people seemed even more gruesome than taking the blood of one. Their skin was burned black, and blood oozed from their cuts. It was terrible. The smoke started to rise and made a cloud that covered the entire town. It looked down menacing, promising nothing but death. I had no idea why it scared me since, technically speaking, I'm already dead.

Alec wasted no time getting out and into the clear. I'm guessing he didn't want to know what the cause of the tragedy was, and neither did I. I hope it wasn't caused by someone who's after us. No one comes to mind who would even bother following us. They would have caught up by now. I mean, we've been in that little village for a week.

We were deep in the woods again before Alec started to slow down. This frustrated me, he never seemed to want to run very far. I was about to protest and try to push him along, but he just shushed me.

"Do you hear that?" Alec asked. His head was tilted back and he was listening intently. I couldn't hear anything, not even when I tried really hard. "Someone is near."

Then I heard what Alec was talking about. There was a rustling in the trees behind us. When I turned I didn't see anyone there, not that I was expecting to. We waited silently, listening, for a few more minutes. The rustling stopped a long time ago, but Alec just needed to make sure.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me along, again. I don't even think Alec knew where we were anymore, but he walked forward anyway. I wish we were running, though.

Just for a moment, I had the will to look behind me because I had the feeling we were being watched. The first time on this trip, I felt threatened. Then again, I had no reason to be. It was probably just an animal in the bushes from before. If there was a threat, Alec could use his powers to buy us some time. I've never seen his power, but I knew what he could do.

The more steps I took, the more jumpy I felt, and the more I squeezed Alec's hand tighter. If I squeeze any tighter, I could rip his hand off. I tried to calm myself by looking around at my surroundings. The birds were chirping peacefully, and that made me feel a little better. Sunlight was leaking through the trees and when we passed under it, I glistened for a second. Alec kept his eyes forward the whole time.

Suddenly, Alec halted and I ran into him. It didn't hurt, but it did startle me. Any peace I gained earlier was now gone. There was the rustling once again, only much louder this time. I didn't have to focus to hear it and it was coming from in front of us now. Alec let me hand slip out of his as he crouched down, ready to strike. I dumbly stood where I was and stared in front of me.

I could feel my spikes pierce through my skin slowly to defend myself when the bushes shook violently. Alec growled from deep in his throat. The thing in hiding sprung out at Alec and took a swipe at his neck. I could tell the thing was another vampire, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to knock Alec down.

Alec quickly regained his composure and fought back. I, on the other hand, watched and felt useless. There really wasn't anything I could do. I was more interested in who the other vampire was. While I was thinking, the vampire took a swipe at my own head. I ducked and slid into him. He just shoved me back and I cracked my head against a tree, causing it to collapse into other trees.

"Go home, Demetri," Alec grunted as he dodged blows. Ah, great. Aro wanted Alec dearest and me to come back. Should have known Demetri would be coming after us sooner or later.

"Master promised he wouldn't punish you if you came back to Volterra with me," Demetri hissed.

"I'm perfectly happy out here," Alec responded just before he stumbled backwards and crashed into his own share of trees.

I having one my "stupid Annika moments" and I flung myself at Demetri, trying to contain him to the ground. He was obviously stronger than me, and has more experience so he tossed me aside with no problem. He was going to pounce Alec when I sliced his leg with my spikes. Demetri still ignored me, even though I left long marks on his right leg.

Alec was able to pin Demetri down, but all three of us knew he wouldn't be able to hold him that long, since he was twice the size of Alec. There was a haze flickering around them and Demetri stopped struggling once it enveloped him. Alec rolled off of Demetri and stood up. He was such a mess, and I'm sure I didn't look much better.

I still couldn't figure out what Alec had done to Demetri, but at this point I didn't really care. Just as long as Demetri was laying limp on the ground, not attacking anyone, I was okay with that.

After Alec gathered himself, he picked Demetri up and pinned him against one of the only trees left standing around us. The mist dissolved and Demetri lashed his hands at Alec's face.

"Did you set that town on fire?" Alec sounded angry.

"I had to lure you two out somehow. You were in there far too long and I couldn't go in there without making a scene," Demetri spat. I don't think he realized how much damage he had done with that fire. He ended up making a scene anyway. "The masters have a terrible punishment for you if you don't come back to us."

Alec gave me a short glance then turned his attention back to the vampire in front of him.

"I said I was happier here." Alec released Demetri and backed way. Demetri didn't lunge or show any sign that he was going to attack in any way. Though, you can never guess with him. He used to treat Alec and me nicely back at Volterra, and here he is trying to take my head off.

"Aro will be very disappointed in you." Then before I knew it, Demetri was gone. Just like that.

"You're happier with living in the woods than living in a castle?" I asked smirking. Personally, I would rather be home causing chaos than spending every night in a tree.

"Sure," he said simply. Alec walked over to me and wiped some of the dirt off my face. "There, now I can see your face."

Shortly before the fire, Alec's mood was boosted. I couldn't understand why, I felt the same. His hand was still on the side of my face and he used his thumb to stroke my cheek. Gently, I pushed his hand away from my face. Usually, I didn't like it when Alec touches my face, or any part of me, for that matter.

He smiled slightly when I did this. Alec ruffled my hair, making it stick up in the front and he leaped off into the trees left standing. Oh, so now he wanted to move fast? His mood swings were really starting to get on my nerves. I flattened the hair Alec made stick up before I jumped after him.

For awhile, I lost sight of him. That was until Alec grabbed my foot from below, startling me, and pulling me down towards him. There really was no explanation I could come up with for his sudden happy mood. Anything was better than "Emo Alec", though.

"For the record, I don't hate you either," Alec whispered in my ear. It made a chill go down my spine and I realized just how close to me he was. His hand brushed my hair out of my eyes again.

"Alec, remember our little chat about personal space? Because I do, and I think it's time for you to keep your hands to yourself." Alec didn't move his hands away from my face, and I wasn't in a good position to move them myself.

Instead, he cupped my face with both his hands and tilted his head forward.


	14. Heat of the Moment

Alec pressed his lips gently against mine. He moved his hands from my face down to grip my hips. My own hands felt awkward just leaving them by my sides, so I rested them on his chest because there was no room to put them anywhere else. If someone told me Alec would be kissing me in the woods, I would have laughed at them. Now, I was too shocked to even think of laughing.

It was short, maybe five seconds at the most, but it was still a sweet gesture. Alec's face never did move far away from mine, even after he pulled away. He was probably just as surprised as I was. We stood there, with Alec's hands on my waist, longer than the actual kiss lasted. To be honest, I didn't feel like moving away.

There was no butterflies in my stomach, nor did my heart start fluttering. Alec's face remained passive, and I wasn't a mind reader, so I couldn't tell what he was feeling. Though, I didn't need to be a mind reader to know that Alec enjoyed the kiss more than I did. I didn't feel like I was in love or I was blissfully happy. I felt like plain old Annika.

I've never had experience with boys before so I had no idea what to do next. Should I just stand here and stare back at him? Push him away? Say something? What would I say? I went with the first choice, just stand there and stare back at him. It seemed like Alec didn't know what to do either.

"Um, I'm sorry." Alec broke the silence.

"No, it's okay. I didn't mind," I responded. He nodded and let go of my waist after I let my hands drop from his chest. "Sooo...yeah." Yes, I am a woman of many words. Alec looked extremely embarrassed right now. I have to admit, this wasn't exactly the most comfortable conversation ever. Letting Felix do my laundry, with my underwear included, was less awkward. Everyone knows how Felix is when he gets his hands on a bra.

"Good work," Alec said, unsure.

"Yeah, you too." We both knew this wasn't going to get anywhere, so I finally just ended it before Alec could make himself look stupid. Oh, wait. I guess it's too late for that. "Let's keep walking."

Alec and I walked side by side in silence, and this time I didn't complain about going slow. Mostly because I was very distracted at the moment and had to focus on keeping my eyes staring forward instead of looking at Alec. That wasn't very easy because out of the corner of my eye I could see him glance at me occasionally.

I would consider us friends, in a way. We both most certainly trust each other more than we did a month ago. Yeah, a month ago I left Volterra, and yet here I am. In the middle of the woods alone with Alec. We should have been in Romania by now, but I think staying in the village and Alec's procrastinating postponed that.

A month ago if you asked what I thought of Alec, I would called him a vile person. Now, I don't even know what I think of him. One thing I don't want Alec to think of me is a lover. Sadly for Alec, I will never love him that way. Yes, I've already made a decision. Though, if I reject him, I'll feel terrible so maybe I shouldn't even be friends with him. Maybe, when we return home to Aro and survive the day after, I'll just isolate myself from him. Sounds easy enough, but I don't think it will be for me.

To be fair, and to reduce the amount of guilt I will feel, I won't be any romantic relationship for the rest of my existence.

There was a sudden boom that shook the sky. I looked up only to have a rain drop fall onto my cheek. Gradually, it started to pour, and that meant Alec wanted to stop again. He didn't even have to say anything and I knew what he wanted to do.

Sure enough, he stopped in his tracks and waited for me to stop as well. Sighing softly, I turned to face him. Today, Alec's eyes were a dark burgundy, and personally I loved that color. He looked so lonely at that moment, I almost wanted to kiss him again. Almost, of course.

"Did you want to stop?" I asked and he nodded. Alec reached up and grasped a low branch, heaving himself up. Sitting in trees didn't provide much cover from rain. We both still got soaking wet, but it didn't really matter at this point. Getting clean was worthless because the next day, Alec and I would be just as filthy if not dirtier.

I also have been wondering what country we were in now. We couldn't be in Italy anymore, it isn't _that _wide of a country. Every step I take forward, is one step farther away from home I have been. I'm betting Alec and I were somewhere along the edge of Austria. I wish I could actually see more of the country than hiding in the woods because I'm afraid of being caught in the sunlight.

Thinking about what country I'm in is used more as an excuse to keep my mind off of other things. Just like every other random topic I ramble about.

Out of curiosity, I glanced over at Alec. He was up on a high branch, with his eyes closed and his head leaned up against a different branch. Alec looked peaceful just sitting there. Almost like he was sleeping. The lines across his forehead that he got when he was stressed were gone and he was taking deep calming breaths, even though he didn't need to breathe.

I hopped up to sit on the branch slightly above his. Alec's hair was sticky to his face from becoming wet. Hesitantly, I reached out to brush it off his face, like he had done with my hair so many times before. I made it spike straight up and it made me laugh a little because it looked strange. Alec opened his eyes to stare back up at me and slicked his hair back from his forehead.

Alec smiled at me in a friendly way and sat up. That's when I felt my heart flutter.

My own smile was wiped from my face and I backed away from him. I didn't want to love him, ever, and especially not now. Of all the moments in the world, now was the worst time to start loving him.

Alec looked confused when I start to back away from him, dropping to lower branches.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked. Why does this have to happen to me?

"Oh, no. You're fine. I just...don't like that particular branch I was sitting on," I said. Alec looked over at the branch where I was perched before then turned back to me.

"What's wrong with it? Looks fine to me," Alec remarked. He jumped down to lower branches, only making me feel like I needed to drop also, to create more space between us.

"It's not at the right angle for me." It was a dumb response and we both knew it. I dropped out of the tree and sat by the base. Of course Alec had to sit down right next to me. I didn't want him to, I wanted him to go away. I wanted to go home to Volterra. Alec's eyes were staring at me intently and I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

Alec seemed to notice this because he looked confused again. I probably looked distressed. There was a great blaze of lightning with thundering rolling after it. I turned my head quickly in the direction of the light then back to face Alec. I hated it when Alec could sense there was something wrong. Unfortunately for me, I didn't even know what was wrong with me.

"Are you sure I didn't do anything?" Alec questioned and I shook my head slowly to answer. "Okay, then." He still didn't look convinced, but he truly didn't do anything. It was just me and my own problems.

His eyes were soft and opening. For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me again because he scooted closer to me, and that was one of the last things I wanted him to do. Instead, Alec wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled my body closer to his. I still wasn't comfortable with this position, but I didn't bother fighting with him. I leaned my head back onto his shoulder and I felt his cheek press against the top of my head.

Eventually, the closeness didn't bother me and it turned into something quite comforting. Not for long, though, because the next moment Alec wasn't anywhere near me and he was in a protective crouch. Please, tell me someone isn't attacking us again. That fiasco with Demetri was enough for me for the next couple of weeks.

I stood up myself to scan the trees for an intruder. If it was someone else from the guard, that would be the last straw. I would run all the way back to Aro and smack him hard if it was.

With me and Alec, the expected never happened.

When Alec got out a few meters in front of me, I felt a vice grip pull me back to the ground. I didn't see who it was, and surprisingly Alec didn't notice I was in trouble, he was so focus in searching for the visitor somewhere in front of us. I wanted to scream and tell Alec he was looking in the wrong direction, the little idiot, but I couldn't make a sound. Not a peep.

This greatly worried me. I felt paralyzed and I knew it was over. I knew it was vampires carrying me off because there was no way any other creature would be strong enough to take me down. Besides a werewolf, but the most recent full moon was last week when Alec and I were in that little town.

I've never felt more helpless than right now. Being kidnapped was not on my list of things I wanted to do today. Then I could feel myself shoved into a bag. Yes, a bag. These kidnappers were definitely old school. I could hear the voices of my captives because I still had control over my senses even though I was paralyzed. Two males and a female.

"Knew Aro was going to send his two best guards after us," one of the males said. "Just make sure the girl doesn't smile at you, or you're in for a lot of pain." They thought I was Jane. Well that's just great.

"She shouldn't be smiling at all with May's power holding her," the other man responded.

"I really wish you two will shut up. And I don't understand why you're waiting so long. Aro isn't going to let his guard down, he never does," the woman cut in. I stopped listening to them after that. All three of them didn't sound pleasant or up to any good.

And away I was carried. Away from my task I had originally set out to do, away from hope, and away from my Alec.

I have brought shame to the Volturi Guard.

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**A/N: Thank you all very much for reviewing, faving, and alerting, as always, of course. And much thanks for all my readers who took the time to read this. I say "thank you" a lot, don't I? Ah, well. I'll update as soon as can.**

**Thanks (darn, I did it again) for reading! **


	15. Dear Romania

Slowly, I was able to move again. My fingers were the first parts of body that were movable. I don't know how long I stayed in one position or where I was, but I'm not worried. The kidnappers dropped me onto the ground ages ago, so I guess if I wanted, I could bust out of the bag. Then again, what if the vampire with the paralyzing power is nearby? I'll just be right back where I started.

I couldn't here anything, and I really strained to hear even the slightest shuffle. Nothing, so I ripped the bag open at the top only to find I was in a room. A very nicely decorated room, strangely enough. Much more comfy than my room back in Volterra. I was on the floor next to a _huge_ bed with red covers. The ends were designed to look like gold hang from it.

Shaking the bag off my feet, I stumbled up. Right across from the bed was a rather large wardrobe. There were nightstands on either side of the bed and a desk in the far corner. The walls were dashed with red and gold and looked really beautiful in the dim light.

Curious, I moved towards the wardrobe to open it. The hinges creaked with age as I opened the double doors. I have expected something to jump out but there was nothing but elegant dresses inside. I closed the wardrobe back up and sat down on a seat in front of the bed and looked around the room some more.

I found it a strange place to keep someone captive in such a well-kept room. When I placed my hands on the seat beneath me, I felt more hinges. Sliding off the top, I tried to open it. You should always familiarize yourself with your surroundings. It wasn't locked and it swung open easily. I had to close it back up quickly and sit back on top because someone was at the door, messing with the door handle. A two men walked into the room.

"Vladimir and Stefan would like to see you, so go wipe the grim off yourself and put something nice on. They won't stand for trash like you tracking mud in their home," the taller of the two men said.

"Oh, and welcome to Romania. We'll come back for one once we bring your friend back here, too," the other added with a sneer. Without letting me respond to either of them, they walked out leaving me all alone.

There was a conjoining bathroom right next to the wardrobe, which was just as lovely as the rest of the room. I didn't rush taking a shower and getting dressed. I wasn't all that eager to see the Romanian coven. Actually, I never thought Alec and I would make it here without giving up and going straight back to Aro.

I couldn't believe just how filthy I was. There was skin under all that mud! I selected one of the dresses out of the wardrobe, since I assume that's why they were there. I wasn't going to put on my torn outfit from before.

I'm used to wearing dresses because Aro requires all the girls in the guard to wear one. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever worn regular pants. It's a good thing I prefer to wear dresses.

The dress I picked was a dark red because I don't think I would look very good in a green sundress paired with my red eyes. That would make me look like I was ready for the holidays or something. None of the choices were very flattering on me, in fact. I left my hair as it has always been. Sticking up in strange places and messy.

Even after I was done getting dressed, I was still left waiting for a very long time. Maybe they forgot about me, I hope. No such hope existed at the moment, because the two men eventually came back. Hooray.

"Hmm, so it seems you do actually have a face," the tall man remarked, amused. I tried my best to ignore him and followed them out of the room. Both of the men had to hurry me along because I was distracted by all the expensive things on display. The castle back in Volterra was very beautiful, but it looked like it was more of a business office on the first couple floors. This castle looked like a living quarters.

I was led to a very large and brightly decorated dining room, where there was two other men sitting at the table all the way at the other end of the room. There was Alec, sitting right next to them. He was cleaned up nicely, too.

The dark haired vampire patted the table spot beside him, signalling me to sit down. Quickly, I moved to sit down, avoiding Alec's gaze as I moved along. I felt trapped when all three males stared at me. There were wine glasses on the table filled with blood. That's...nasty. The blood smelled old, and while it made no difference, it still would taste terrible unless it was fresh.

"So glad we could head both of you off and manage to capture a prize of Aro's...and a second-hand," the dark haired vampire looked at me when he said the last part. "Shame Aro won't have Alec when we ambush."

"I'm sorry," the other vampire started to say to me. "We don't reconize you."

"Annika," I answered, even though I don't think either of the Romanians cared what my name was.

"Well, Annika, once the Volturi is overthrown, you're free to go as you please. Stefan and I don't see you as much of a threat. Alec, on the other hand, will suffer like the others," Vladimir stated. "If we let you go, you cannot meddle around with our own plans. Unless you would like to join our cause."

I didn't know how to answer either of his statements. Was it really worth all this trouble just to be leaders of the vampire world? Being the leader does sound promising, but it's a very stressful job. Personally, I don't think it's worth fighting over anyway.

Stefan cleared his throat, waiting for me to reply, but I couldn't. I just looked up at him and shrugged stupidly. it's already shameful enough to be a member of the Volturi guard and get yourself captured, I didn't need these two vampires making me look even more like an idiot. I bet Alec felt even more humiliated about this than me.

"I...I'll think about it," I responded, finally after a long silence. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alec narrow his eyes at me when I spoke. It wasn't what I wanted to answer with either, but I had to say something to get them off my case. At least for now.

"Very well," Stefan said. "Now, we have one other thing to bring up. We are well aware that Aro knows we want to take over his position, but what does he have planned for us?" Stefan's eyes bored into mine, looking for some kind of answer. I, of course, had none. Aro probably didn't even had a plan and Stefan was just wasting his time.

My own eyes flickered to Alec, then back to the two Romanian vampires. I shrugged again, feeling even more idiotic than before. Vladimir sighed in annoyance, something I heard Alec do many times when I refused to cooperate with him. Both vampires waited a few more moments, to see if I had anything else to say, before standing up, walking out the big double doors and leaving me alone with Alec. Which I had absolutely no problem with.

"I was wondering where you went yesterday," Alec said suddenly. "I thought you might have left me."

"I wouldn't do that." I shook my head slowly.

"Really?" Alec didn't sound so sure of my answer. "Because by your actions yesterday, it felt like you didn't want me near you anymore." I shook my head no again.

"No, I was just feeling...I don't know," I said. Yesterday's events didn't really occur to me today until Alec mentioned it. I didn't know what I was feeling yesterday. It was more stress and confusion, really. And...other feelings, I guess.

Alec moved around the table to sit in Stefan's vacant seat. He hesitantly reached out to touch my face. It was more of an act of comfort than anything. My own hand covered his. We stayed like that for a few moments, until I removed his hand from my face and scooted my chair away from him. Alec looked confused when I did this, but the expression was gone when the door clicked open again. He looked disappointed, too.

I was expecting to see the Romanians come back into the room, but instead it was the other two men. I didn't want to go back into that room to be left there alone for who knows how long. Gradually, I stood up to follow them. Alec placed his hand on the small of my back and pushed me along.

We walked back up the grand staircase, but this time I wasn't distracted by the shiny things on the walls. It would make more sense for Alec and I to be separated, but no, he was locked into my room with me. I guess they weren't worried about us breaking through the wall because it was five against two, if you count the other lady here.

I laid down on the large, comfy bed. It would be nice to go a day without stressful thoughts, but that was never the case with me, sadly. Everyday lately has been extremely stressful.

The bed sunk in a bit when Alec down next to me.

"You know, we could bust through that window and be on our way back to Volterra. If you want, of course," Alec whispered quietly as he could it make the chance of Vladimir and Stefan hearing us less likely. "I don't know if you wanted to take them up on the offer of joining them."

"Not Volterra. They'll follow us," I responded. "And I wouldn't ever leave the Volturi if I had the choice."

"You'll be rejected by other covens," Alec agreed. Most other vampires did not like members of the Volturi guard, so if you left the guard as a punishment, you would have to become a nomad because no one would want you. Once you join, you can't quit unless you die or you need to be severely punished. Joining the guard is the best option for your existence, but only if it's a last resort.

The life of a nomad wasn't particularly fun, either.

I slid off the bed onto the floor. There really wasn't anywhere for Alec to go, and I wouldn't leave him for the Romanians. In order to get him back to Italy, that might have to happen.

I glanced once back at Alec and thought about the decision. Alec was hopeful that I wouldn't go. My eyes closed for a moment and I let out a huge sigh. I was already going to be sentenced to death for breaking many rules; Alec would be spared.

Joining the Romanian coven wasn't looking all that bad right now.

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**A/N: You know what I'm going to say. Thanks for reviewing, faving, and alerting! I apologize for not updating earlier, but here it is!**

**Thanks for reading!**


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